Beaten (1-0) on the lawn of its modest neighbor Leganés on Saturday, Antoine Griezmann’s Atlético Madrid saw its impressive streak of 15 consecutive victories come to an end and offered the possibility to Real Madrid of regaining the lead in La Liga if successful on Sunday.
Superior in the game but without success in front of goal, despite several clear chances including a missed penalty by Griezmann in the 89th minute and two strikes on the uprights (12th, 26th), Atlético (1st, 44 points) could give up their first place for its Madrid rival (2nd, 43 points) against Las Palmas on Sunday (4:15 p.m.).
Leganes had already surprised Barca
It was former Manchester City defender Matija Nastasic who scored the winning goal with a header from a corner (50th, 1-0) to explode the small Butarque municipal stadium, on the outskirts of Madrid, full to capacity to host the leader (perhaps ephemeral) of the championship.
A setback which comes at the worst time for Diego Simeone’s men, three days before a decisive meeting in the Champions League against Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen. Already defeated by FC Barcelona in mid-December (1-0), Leganés (15th, 22 points), promoted this season, offers itself another big blow and gives itself a little breathing room in the fight to maintain its position in to the three relegated, Alavés (18th, 17 points), Valladolid (19th, 15 points) and Valencia (20th, 13 points).
