Madrid derby has Barca rejoicing
ON TOP Goalless stalemate between Real and Atletico Madrid leaves Barca 10 points clear of their closest rivals
MADRID: Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid slipped 10 points behind Barcelona at the top of La Liga as a Madrid derby short on chances finished 0-0 at Atletico’s Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday.
Earlier, Barca also weren’t at their best but Luis Suarez’s double ended a five-game goal drought for the Uruguayan and Paulinho’s late strike helped see off a determined Leganes 3-0.
Both Madrid sides suffered a familiar lack of cutting edge in front of goal this season, but it was Atletico who passed up the best chance when Angel Correa fired wide after just three minutes. “We lacked a goal, but apart from that I feel for the players because they deserved more,” said Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane. “10 points is a lot but that will change because Barca will not always win.”
After a bright start from Atletico, Real’s first chance came on the counter-attack but Juanfran outpaced Cristiano Ronaldo when the Portuguese was put clean through by Luka Modric much to the home crowd’s delight. “In the first 25 minutes you saw the team we were against the best team in the world, who needed to win after Barca’s win,” said Atletico boss Diego Simeone. “We are finding it hard to score goals. If we had scored with Correa it would have changed the game completely.”
The visitors slowly started to take control as the first period wore on, but lacked a creative spark. Jan Oblak turned Toni Kroos’s effort behind at the near post after a neat one-two with Ronaldo, before Sergio Ramos was left bloodied and eventually replaced at half-time with a broken nose as he was caught by Lucas Hernandez as he stooped to head into the side-netting.
Ronaldo’s profligacy has been blamed for Real’s slump in form this season and the Portuguese was once again wayward with his side’s best chance as his tame effort from Modric’s pass dribbled wide.
Antoine Griezmann was jeered off after another underwhelming display 15 minutes from time. However, his replacement Kevin Gameiro nearly grabbed the winner when his lobbed effort was cleared off the line by Raphael Varane.
And at the other end, Ronaldo took just too long to wind up his effort as Hernandez galloped back into position to make a brave block in a frantic finale and ensure Atletico a share of the spoils.