Barca’s lead widens after Madrid held to draw

MADRID:— Barcelona was the team celebrating at the end of the first derby between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

The Madrid rivals played to a scoreless draw at Atletico’s new venue on Saturday, leaving both teams further away from the Catalan club at the top of the Spanish league.

Barcelona won at Leganes 3-0 earlier and ended the day 10 points in front of the Madrid clubs after 12 matches. The thriving Catalan club is seven points in front of second-place Valencia, which will try to extend its seven-game winning streak at Espanyol on Sunday.

The draw extended Atletico’s winless run at its new home to five matches. It drew three straight entering this weekend. Diego Simeone’s team has won only two of its last 10 games in all competitions.

Both teams will have to remain nearly perfect for the rest of the season to try to catch up to Barcelona, which has won 11 of its 12 league matches.

“We deserved more, ”Real coach Zinedine Zidane said. “In the end we couldn’t get the goal, but I’m not worried. I’m sure Barca will lose points as well. We have to keep doing our part. It’s a big difference but that’s going to change.”

It was tense between Real and Atletico from the start, with hard fouls from both sides.

Real had control for most of the game but was not able to create many significant chances.

“The draw was a fair result,” Simeone said.

Meanwhile, Luis Suarez scored twice to end a five-match scoring drought in Barcelona’s win.

The Uruguay striker found the net in each half and substitute midfielder Paulinho scored late to give the Catalan club its 11th win.

“What mattered to me was that I was feeling good and was helping the team, and today the goals helped us get the three points against a difficult rival,” Suarez said. “We always try to play better, but it’s not always possible.”