Real lose ground in title race
MADRID: Real Madrid were left to rue a series of near misses on Sunday as they stumbled to a 0-0 home draw with Athletic Bilbao, dropping two points adrift of Barcelona in a tight Spanish title race.
Real also drew 0-0 in midweek at Barcelona but Sunday’s result leaves Madrid on 37 points at the half-way stage of the season, two points off Barcelona who top the table on 39.
Toni Kroos hit the bar, Karim Benzema saw an effort cleared off the line with a back-heel and both Rodrygo and Vincius Junior forced snap saves on a frustrating night for Madrid.
For Bilbao, Kenan Kodro’s thunderbolt shot was ruled out for off-side in the first half while the Santiago Bernabeu lived on its nerves when Athletic flooded forward deep into added time.
“I feel bad for the players because of the effort they put in. We are annoyed that we couldn’t score with all the chances we had,” Real coach Zinedine Zidane told reporters.
“The ball isn’t going in for us at the moment but there’s no need to be pessimistic. We’ve had a little bit of a sour ending to the year but we can’t wait for 2020 to start.”
Athletic coach Gaizka Garitano did not shy away from the fact that fortune had favoured his side, who have not won at the Bernabeu since 2005.
“To get anything from here you have to have a bit of luck, but we ended the game very well,” he said.
Barcelona go into the brief Spanish winter break on top of La Liga after a glittering show led by Lionel Messi saw the defending champions beat Alaves 4-1 on Saturday.
Sevilla are third on 34 points after their 2-0 win at Real Mallorca.
Earlier Sunday Angel Correa came off the bench to score one and make another as Atletico Madrid climbed back into the top four with a 2-1 win at Real Betis.