Follow: Dhamia Falih
The competition for the top spot in the Spanish Football League intensified one stage before the end of this year’s matches, after Barcelona, the leader on goal difference, lost to Atletico Madrid, against Leganes with a clean goal, and the capital team’s victory over Getafe with the same score in the seventeenth stage.
The Catalan team will play its last match in the league this year at home against Atletico in particular at the top of the eighteenth stage, while Real Madrid, which tied with its host Rayo Vallecano 3-3 on Saturday and is in third place by one point, will face Sevilla.
Barcelona, which lost for the fourth time in the league this season, played 18 matches in the tournament compared to 17 for the two capital Madrid teams, noting that Real will face Valencia early next year in a postponed match from the twelfth stage as a result of the floods that struck the east of the country.
Leganes owes its victory to Sergio Gonzalez, who scored the only goal of the match in the fourth minute.
Leganes raised its score to 18 points in fifteenth place.
Atletico Madrid continued its winning streak after defeating its guest Getafe 1-0.
The victory is the eleventh in a row for Atletico in various competitions and the sixth in the league, noting that its last loss locally dates back to its defeat by Real Betis 0-1 on October 27 last.
Catalan newspapers spoke of “shock” and “frustration” after the lead was shaken, as the difference with third-placed Real Madrid is one point, and the goal difference with second-placed Atletico.
Barcelona star Pedri said: “It is impossible to feel happy after what happened. We lacked the spark required in the attack to score the net, and we must play the matches better. We cannot allow our competitors to score at such an early time in the matches.”
He continued: I think we created opportunities, but we have to know how to exploit them. It is difficult to explain our suffering in the league, but we have to move forward.
A worrying injury
Winger Lamine Yamal, the jewel of Barcelona, won the “Golden Boy” award presented by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport before facing Leganés.
The representative of the Italian newspaper presented the award to Yamal because he would not be able to attend the ceremony in Turin on Monday evening, but Yamal did not express his happiness in the pictures with the award, and the reason may be due to the newspaper’s refusal to bear the expenses of the private plane that returns him from Turin to Barcelona in the evening, or the Barcelona administration’s refusal to bear the cost of the round-trip.
According to the latest reports, there are major doubts about Yamal’s participation against Barcelona’s partner in the lead, Atletico Madrid, on Saturday, because the bruise came on the same ankle because of which he missed almost a month.
Yamal suffered a bruise in his right ankle as a result of a kick from Leganes midfielder Yevan Nyio in the 16th minute and asked to leave the field in the 75th minute of the match.
Morocco
