Benzema replies Lewandowski’s brace with a brace   

The battle for La Liga highest goal scorer and European Golden Boot is between Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski and Real Madrid Karim Benzema with both strikers scoring a brace on Sunday in La Liga.

The Camp Nou crowd are already falling in love with Lewandowski, with the Polish striker scoring two more goals in a 4-0 win over Real Valladolid after also netting a brace last weekend.

The Polish striker scored the first and third goals of the convincing victory, with Pedri netting the second and Sergi Roberto adding a fourth in stoppage time.

Right from the off, the Catalan side went on the attack, playing with more urgency than they did in their other home game so far, when they were held by Rayo Vallecano.

It took just six minutes for Lewandowski to get involved, striking the post with a header and watching the ball roll along the goal line.

But, in the 24th minute, he had his first official Camp Nou goal, stretching to turn in a brilliant Raphinha cross.

Ousmane Dembele got an assist too, setting up Pedri for a pass into the bottom corner just before the break.

Despite Real Valladolid making half time substitutions, it was still all Barcelona after the pause.

Yet, it took until the 65th minute for the next goal, which Lewandowski scored brilliantly with a backheel that found the back of the net courtesy of a slight deflection.

After Dembele, his replacement Ferran Torres and Frenkie de Jong each had chances for a fourth, it was Sergi Roberto who rounded off the victory in the second minute of stoppage time, firing into an empty net after a Lewandowski strike was tipped onto the crossbar by Jordi Masip.

That could have been the Polish striker's hat-trick, but his performance was still wonderful enough for the Blaugrana fans to cheer their new idol.

Barcelona now have seven points from their opening three games.

Elsewhere, Benzema was the hero for Real Madrid once again, scoring in the 88th minute and again deep into stoppage time to earn his side a 3-1 victory away at Espanyol.

Vinicius and Joselu had both scored in the first half, before an end-to-end second 45 minutes, which concluded with the Frenchman's late contributions.

Real Madrid came into this game with a 100 percent record so far, having won the UEFA Super Cup and also their away trips to Almeria and Celta Vigo.

Vinicius was lively and netted a goal in the 12th minute, finishing coolly after a perfectly weighted through ball from Aurelien Tchouameni.

Real Madrid dominated most of the rest of the first half, but were sloppy towards the end of it and allowed Joselu to equalise, scoring the rebound from his own shot after a Thibaut Courtois save.

Both sides had chances once the second half resumed and it was a true end-to-end affair, but Real Madrid managed to find a route to victory.

Rodrygo had looked lively after coming on and he found Benzema at the back post in the 88th minute, for the Frenchman's first open play goal of the new LaLiga Santander season.

The No.9 then scored another deep into stoppage time, after Espanyol goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte was sent off for a last man foul, one that took place during a piece of play which saw Rodrygo net an offside goal.

Leandro Cabrera had to fill in in goals for the final moments and the defender couldn't do anything about Benzema's powerful freekick, which rounded off this 3-1 win, the fourth of the season for Los Blancos.