Held in check (3-3) by its modest neighbor Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, Real Madrid (3rd, 37 points) ultimately did not have such a bad operation and could quickly take the lead in the event of success in its two next meetings against Sevilla FC and Valencia at the beginning of January.
The Catalan club, author of an almost perfect start to the season, has won only one of its last six La Liga matches (3 draws, 2 defeats) and has seen its comfortable lead melt away day after day since its card. in the Clasico on the pitch of the Santiago Bernabeu at the end of October (4-0).
“It was a lousy game. It’s impossible to leave the field happy today. We started the game completely asleep and that’s when they scored. Then we got back to our senses. spirits, but we didn’t have the spark necessary to score,” lamented Spanish midfielder Pedri on DAZN. “We need to be better in front of goal if we want to win points, we are in a bad situation in the league and we need to turn things around,” he added.
Atlético continues its crazy series
A decline from which Atlético Madrid was able to benefit, which earlier on Saturday signed an eleventh consecutive victory in all competitions by narrowly winning (1-0) at home against its neighbor Getafe, thanks to a goal from Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth.
The former Villarreal scorer, who came on in the second half, gave his team three valuable points by heading a cross from Argentinian Nahuel Molina (69th, 1-0), allowing Atlético to make a huge move in the standings by overtaking rival Real Madrid and coming back to equal points with FC Barcelona.
Author of his seventh achievement in La Liga since his signing this summer for 32 million euros, his 24th of the year 2024, the Norwegian colossus is the player who has scored the most goals over the past year, behind the Pole Robert Lewandowski (27).
In crisis at the end of October after setbacks against Benfica (4-0), Lille (3-1) and Betis Sevilla, the Colchoneros have since not experienced defeat and completely relaunched the title race in La Liga, while the Barça has had a series of poor performances.
In the other matches of the day, Betis Sevilla (9th, 24 points) carried out a very good operation by winning (2-1) on the pitch of Villarreal (6th, 26 points), despite more than one hour passed at ten after the expulsion of the Argentinian Chimy Avila and Athletic Bilbao (4th, 33 points) was held in check (1-1) at Alavés (17th, 16 points).
And Real Sociedad (7th, 25 points), which remained on five consecutive successes, was slowed down at Anoeta (0-0) by Las Palmas (14th, 19 points).
ati/ned/jld
SPORT LISBON AND BENFICA – FOOTBALL