Barcelona and Real Madrid endured a tough week with both sides overcoming tough matches while sustaining massive injuries to major players.

Both teams got a taste of the Champions League with two tough contests to get the group stage started. Real Madrid hosted an aggressive Shakhtar Donetsk side that was vicious from the start. Aside from a steady pressure in the middle of the pitch, the Ukrainian side was not afraid of making harsh tackles and eventually wound up injuring not one or two but three Madrid players. Gareth Bale was the first to go down followed by Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos. Ramos and Bale will be out for several weeks, testing Madrid's depth.

Fortunately the team got lucky in the game with Karim Benzema capitalizing on a goaltending mistake and then Cristiano Ronaldo scoring goals on two penalties that should likely never been called. The team was not particularly tested on the back end with Shakhtar only taking a grand total of one shot on goal. Part of that was having a man advantage for a lengthy spell, but the other part of it is the team still looking solid defensively and having a terrific goalie as the last line of defense.

Barcelona's Champions League title defense did not get off to a great start. The team eased into its game against Roma and eventually found a breakthrough through Luis Suarez, but the ecstasy did not last long as an unlikely goal from over 50 yards deflated the team. After the Roma goal, Barcelona struggled to find space and lacked the dynamism to unpack Roma's defense. Lionel Messi lost the ball eight times in the game and only got one shot on target in 90 minutes; that shot hit the bar.

One might accurately claim that while Madrid was the beneficiary of good luck (and bad luck when one considers the injuries), Barcelona was the recipient of some bad luck in its 1-1 draw.

Now onto the second game of the week for both sides in La Liga.

Real Madrid defeated Granada 1-0 at home though the result was a huge disappointment. The team won 9-1 in this fixture a year ago and was expected to get a similar result. The 1-0 win was on some level deserved, though it could have easily ended in a draw or a loss if not for one man. The person in question? Keylor Navas.

Hardly tested throughout the opening games (at least not when the games were in the balance), the keeper was tremendous for his club, bailing out a poor defensive display. Marcelo and Pepe were undoubtedly the main culprits on the night, faltering at every moment and giving Granada too much space to create chances.

Meanwhile Barcelona's keeper was the story once more, but for the opposite reason. With Claudio Bravo injured, Barcelona's Marc Andre ter Stegen continued to prove that he might not be the heir to Manuel Neuer. While his positioning was at fault for the Roma goal on Wednesday, his poor decision making led to a Levante goal against as well on Sunday.

Fortunately that goal's only problem was that it killed the clean sheet bid for Blaugrana because at that point the game was out of reach. Marc Bartra, Neymar and Lionel Messi also scored with the latter scoring twice. Messi did miss a penalty in the game and has now scored on one of three penalty attempts in 2015-16.

La Standings Through Week 4

Barcelona - 4 Wins , 12 Points, 1 Trophy

Real Madrid - 3 Wins, 1 Draw, 10 Points, 0 Trophies

 

Champions League

Real Madrid - 1 Win, 3 Points, +4 Goal Differential

Barcelona - 0 Wins, 1 Draw, 1 Point

Which team was more impressive in Week 4 of the 2015-16 Season?