Madrids have a feast in Spain

Barcelona, Feb. 19: Atletico Madrid stayed within sight of Barcelona while Real Madrid’s attack bailed out its porous defence in the Spanish league on Sunday.

Diego Costa and Kevin Gameiro scored secondhalf goals to give Atletico a 2- 0 win over Athletic Bilbao and keep it seven points behind Barcelona at the top of the table. Atletico will visit Barcelona on March 4 in what could be its last chance to inject some drama into the title race.

Madrid remained in a distant fourth place after outgunning Real Betis 5- 3 in Seville, four days after it won the first leg of its Champions League last- 16 match with PSG.

SIMEONE STYLE

Atletico’s win over Bilbao was textbook Simeone: an ironclad defence and just enough from its attack to take the three points.

Simeone’s side suffocated Bilbao, which never threatened Jan Oblak. The hosts recorded their 16th clean sheet through 24 rounds.

Gameiro broke the deadlock at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium shortly after replacing Jorge “Koke” Resurreccion in the 59th.

The forward scored from a pass by Antoine Griezmann after Saul Niguez had recovered the ball in midfield to spring an attack that caught Bilbao in disarray.

Costa sealed the result with 10 minutes left when Unai Nunez failed to intercept a pass by Gameiro, leaving the Spain striker all alone to fire past goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

MARCOS MADRID

Marco Asensio continued to impress as the 22- yearold forward scored twice to help Madrid tame Betis.

Asensio headed in after Cristiano Ronaldo’s strike was parried by Betis goalkeeper Antonio Adan in the 11th.

Betis pressed Madrid back into its area and Aissa Mandi headed in Joaquin Sanchez’s pass to equalize. A counterattack led by Sanchez ended with a shot by Junior Firpo that Madrid defender Nacho Fernandez put into his own net to give Betis a 2- 1 lead before halftime.