Late goals close the gap on Atléti – a little
If, at the start of the season, someone had offered Diego Simeone the position that his Atlético Madrid team find themselves in after 9 February, El Cholo would surely have snatched their hand off without hesitation. Five points clear, with a couple of games in hand on the reigning champions, and having lost just a single game all season is a more than healthy situation to be in. Compared to last week, however, when that lead was ten points with a game in hand offering the chance to make it thirteen, all of a sudden, pundits are considering whether there’s a growing chink in Atléti’s armour. By the time they faced Celta Vigo on Sunday evening, both Real Madrid and Barcelona had secured their three points each from the Matchday, albeit with both teams recovering from falling behind to win with late goals.
Real Madrid visited Huesca with a massively depleted roster.
At one time reports suggested that Zidane would only be able to include a dozen outfield players in his matchday squad. When the team-sheets were submitted, however, that number had grown to 15 – although it still left the substitutes’ bench at far less than full capacity. The squad included midfielder Marvin Park, who had spent three years in the youth system at Tranmere Rovers. Huesca are chained to the foot of the table so, when a goal from Javi Galan gave them the lead early in the second period, a shock was on the cards. Not for long however, Varane, up from the back to support the forward line equalised, winning an aerial duel on the home goal line, and then secured the decisive goal with five minutes to play.
Barcelona had similar overtones in their game. Encounters between the club and Real Betis often feature plenty of goals, 36 in the last six meetings, and Barça’s visit to the Estadio Benito Villamarín on Sunday was no exception. Betis had only beaten the Blaugrana once in the last 15 meetings, but a goal from Iglesias, ahead of the break, gave the home team the lead. It took until the hour mark for Messi to level and, eight minutes later, an own goal by Victor Ruiz had the Catalans ahead. Ruiz made up for his faux pas by levelling things up at the other end five minutes later. Another late goal, by Trincao with three minutes to play decided the issue though and Barcelona took the three points again.
Atléti’s game on Monday against Celta Vigo closed out the Matchday and, despite also having a depleted squad João Felix, Lemar and Hermoso all being unavailable due to Covid issues and Trippier serving his ban, plus with Carrasco only fit enough for the bench after recovering from Covid – the fact that Simeone hadn’t seen his team lose for over a year would still have had Madridistas confident of success. The game however followed the trend of both Real Madrid and Barcelona’s matches, with a slight twist at the end. As with both the chasing clubs, Atléti fell behind when Santi Mina’s diving header rounded off a slick Celta move to give the visitors the lead on 13 minutes. Perhaps it was nerves, perhaps it was the key players missing, but Atléti struggled to establish much domination and when Suárez equalised in the closing seconds of the first half, the goal was greeted as much with relief as joy.
The normal pattern of things looked to be playing out when the Uruguayan forward notched his second goal after 50 minutes – taking him to the top of the Pichichi chart – Atléti looked to be on course for victory. Edging towards the final minute though, this time the late goal went against the title aspirants as Ferreyra slid in to secure a share of the spoils for Celta. In the end, a point hardly flattered the visitors. The lead at the top had been cut by two points, with further damage threatened entering the new week, with both Los Blancos having another fixture to play.
Despite again struggling to fill his substitutes’ bench, and bereft of the services of Hazard, Valverde, Militao, Rodrygo, Odriozola, Ramos, Carvajal, Vazquez and Kroos, in a game blighted by driving rain and wind, Los Blancos fought to a less than impressive but fairly comfortable win against an insipid and tame Getafe. The win was secured by goals from Benzema and Mendy, the second coming when the full back combined with Marcelo from the other defensive flank to plough forward and score the decisive strike.
On paper, the lead looks pretty secure, but football isn’t played on paper of course, and the next few games for Atléti will be massively important. If they continue to shed points, and either or both of Real Madrid or Barcelona go on a winning run, the pressure will inevitably mount. Simeone’s team face a less than easy task in the upcoming Matchday with a visit to Granada. The Andalusian team have lost only one of their last five games, albeit three of the others have been draws, but they are unlikely to offer a comfortable passage to the points. Atléti then have a home game against Levante before visiting the Unai Emery re-energised Villareal. Anything less than seven points from those three games could well encourage the clubs in pursuit.
The first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals will have been played by the time you read this. Sevilla entertain Barcelona, and Athletic Club host Levante. There’s the possibility of the unique scenario wherein, if the Bilbao club overcome Levante, they could end up contesting the postponed 2019-20 Copa del Rey Final and the 2020-21 final within a week or so of each other. It could mean that, if they are successful against Real Sociedad in the all-Basque 2019-20 event, and then fail to secure the trophy from the current season, they enjoy ¬or, perhaps more accurately endure, the shortest period as cup holders ever in the history of the Spanish game.
I noticed another event worthy of mention earlier in the week. Deportivo La Coruña, LaLiga Champions in 2000, winners of the Copa del Rey in 2001-02 and champions of Segunda División in just eight years ago have now fallen so far down the league pyramid that, now playing in the Segunda B regionalised division, they have fallen behind Celta Vigo’s B team, and with Celta’s second string having a couple of games in hand. It’s a sad state of affairs for a club that was once a true power in Spanish football. Perhaps, from there though, the only way is up.