Barca slip up to Depor, lose Liga lead
MADRID: Real Madrid saw Barcelona falter and then survived an awful mistake by goalkeeper Keylor Navas to regain the Spanish league lead on Sunday.
Barcelona lost 2-1 at relegation-threatened Deportivo La Coruna in their first match after their amazing win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and Madrid took advantage with a comefrom-behind 2-1 win over Real Betis, despite an own-goal by Navas.
Cristiano Ronaldo equalised before half-time and Sergio Ramos netted an 81stminute winner for Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium after Navas had pushed the ball into his own net while trying to regain control following a close-range shot.
Navas made amends with a superb save two minutes into second-half injury time to secure Madrid the victory and a twopoint lead over Barcelona, whose 19-game unbeaten streak in the league ended in La Coruna.
“It’s part of the game, everyone makes mistakes,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said of Navas. “In the end he saved us. The save he made has given us the three points.”
Without some of the starters from the 6-1 victory over PSG on Wednesday, which reversed a 4-0 first-leg loss, Barcelona lacked the same intensity that they had at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique didn’t start Rafinha, Samuel Umtiti and Neymar, who was decisive on Wednesday with two goals and two assists. Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic only entered Sunday’s match in the second half.
“We struggled from the start,” Luis Enrique said. “There is no justification for the loss.’’
The coach said he didn’t think his players had struggled to get back to reality following the PSG game.
“Only those who went through what we went through this week can understand what it meant,” Luis Enrique said. “But we knew that nobody will make it easy for you and that it would be hard to win points here.”