Real, Barca rest starters in wins ahead of UCL ties
Real Madrid and Barcelona ground out road wins in the Spanish league while resting starters for their respective Champions League clashes against Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
League leaders Madrid won at Mallorca 1-0 to remain eight points clear of Barcelona after their 1-0 victory at Cadiz. The Spanish powerhouses will meet next weekend after their games in Europe.
Madrid midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni scored the game’s only goal at Mallorca three minutes after halftime. Madrid visit City on Wednesday with their quarterfinal poised after a 3-3 draw.
“We played a very difficult game against City and we are tired, but we know that when we play for Madrid we have to give it our all until the end,” Tchouaméni said.
Vinicius Júnior and Eduardo Camavinga played the final half hour as substitutes. Dani Carvajal went on for the final minutes, while Rodrygo and Toni Kroos never left the bench. Jude Bellingham started and was replaced by Camavinga.
João Félix scored to lead Barcelona at relegation-threatened Cadiz, while Xavi Hernández rested several starters ahead of their home match against PSG on Tuesday.
Raphinha, who scored twice in Barcelona’s 3-2 win in Paris, played only the final 10 minutes at Cadiz. Lamine Yamal, Jules Koundé, and potential starter Pedri González went on for the final half hour. Ilkay Gundogan, Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araújo, and João Cancelo stayed on the bench at Cadiz. Robert Lewandowski was unavailable while serving a suspension.
A long strike by Tchouaméni that deflected off a defender before finding the net was the only way Madrid got past the defence of Javier Aguirre’s Mallorca. Tchouaméni will miss the game in England to serve a suspension. A holding midfielder, he was used as a central defender by manager Carlo Ancelotti in the first leg against City while Madrid dealt with injuries.
Ancelotti equalled Zinedine Zidane with 183 league games coached for Madrid, second only to Miguel Muñoz’s record 424 league games.
Mallorca were playing their first game since losing the Copa del Rey final on penalties to Athletic Bilbao last weekend. It remained in 15th place.
Félix did his best to convince Xavi he should get minutes against PSG by scoring the game’s only goal in an overall strong performance. He took the 36th-minute winner with a bicycle kick from the edge of the sixyard box to whip in a corner kick that was knocked on by a Cadiz defender.
“We all work to be starters,” Félix said. “I am just like any other player who wants to play since I know I have what it takes to help the team.” Barcelona goalie Marc-Andre ter Stegen protected the three points by stretching to get one hand on Diadié Samassékou’s powerful strike in the 80th, the hosts’ only real threat.
Antoine Griezmann scored twice as Atletico Madrid beat Girona 3-1 to boost their chances of finishing in the top four. Griezmann got his first league goal since December by converting a penalty after a handball by Girona. His leveller in the 34th cancelled Artem Dovbyk’s opener. Álvaro Morata’s hustle proved key to putting the hosts ahead in first-half stoppage time when he chased down a ball before it could cross and whipped it into the area for Ángel Correo to head into the top corner.