Atletico denied win by Barca, Eibar stun Real

ATLETICO Madrid came within a whisker of their first league win over Barcelona in eight years on Saturday only for Ousmane Dembele to dash their hopes with a dramatic equaliser in injury-time.

Diego Costa looked to have decided a dreary contest at the Wanda Metropolitano when he headed in his first La Liga goal since February with 13 minutes left.

Atletico would have gone top but instead Barca produced another fightback as substitute Dembele slid home a cool finish in the 90th minute to earn the visitors a 1-1 draw.

Diego Simeone eone (pictured, AFP) was asked sked after the match what his team had lacked. acked. “Four minutes,” es,” he said, grinning. g.

Certainly, the he relief was palpable in the celebrations of the luminous yellow ow shirts in the corner but perhaps just as grateful rateful were Real Madrid, adrid, beaten 3-0 by y Eibar earlier in the day. ay.

Santiago Solari had proven the perfect caretaker but his debut as permanent coach h ended in a disastrous, and deserved, defeat at Ipu Ipurua. Madrid’s only consolation was that neither Atletico A nor Barca were we able to secure the th win that would have ha pulled them a f ur t her t h r e e p o i n t s away.

Costa Cos almost had it, i scoring his first goal in 18 league games to surely end Atletico’s Atl joyless run against agai Barca, which stretches stretch back to February 2010 2010.

But Dembele, dropped by coach Ernesto Valverde for the defeat to Real Betis before the international break, found some redemption with a clinical finish when it mattered most.

“It is not like in other years when Barca or Real Madrid had leads of 15, 20 points,” Simeone said. “This is much more entertaining for the fans.”

If Solari was watching on he might have breathed a small sigh of relief. Four wins while in temporary charge had earned him a contract until 2021 but against Eibar, Real reverted to the kind of chaotic display that earned Julen Lopetegui the sack.

Defeat also brought into focus the mindset of his players, after their captain Sergio Ramos faced allegations of an anti-doping violation on Friday night from German magazine DerSpiegel. Both the club and Ramos have denied any breach.

Eibar climb to eighth, a reward for their first ever victory over Real Madrid, inside their tiny 7,083-capacity stadium.

“We could even have scored more,” said their coach Jose Luis Mendilibar.