Cristiano Ronaldo struck midway through the first half as leaders Real Madrid won 1-0 at Malaga in La Liga on Saturday, while Atletico Madrid stayed hot on their heels after Diego Costa netted in a 1-0 victory over RCD Espanyol.
Costa, continuing a rich vein of form that has seen him bag 22 goals in the league and become a Spain international, outsprinted the defense before beating goalkeeper Kiko Casilla in the 55th minute.
It was a cagey game, but Atletico generally carried more threat in front of goal and now have 67 points, three fewer than Real.
Photo: EPA
Barcelona, who are in third place on 63 points, were to face CA Osasuna yesterday.
“Espanyol played very well and made it very difficult for us, but we were strong and knew how to cope,” Costa told reporters. “We will keep going game by game and playing as we always do.”
Ronaldo is the top scorer in La Liga and notched his 25th league goal of the campaign with a clinical finish from the edge of the area to see off Malaga, who battled hard, but lacked a cutting edge.
Isco missed an excellent chance to give Real a more convincing win against his former club, but the only true downside for the leaders was the injury picked up by France striker Karim Benzema.
He hurt his thigh after colliding with Ronaldo and had to be substituted, but it did not look an overly serious injury.
“We suffered because they pressed us in the second half and we were not able to get forward much,” Real midfielder Xabi Alonso told reporters. “We were not sharp in moving the ball from midfield to attack. We didn’t link up well.”
Real were without the suspended Sergio Ramos at the back and brought in Raphael Varane.
Angel Di Maria, one booking away from a suspension and with the Clasico looming next weekend against Barca, was on the bench and Isco started.
Malaga went out looking to assert themselves and they had plenty of the ball, Nordin Amrabat a threat with his movement and energy.
However, the Andalusian side have had defensive problems all season and they stood off Ronaldo too much, giving him time to pick his spot in the bottom corner of the net after 23 minutes.
The Portuguese forward could have added a quick second goal, but was denied by a good block from Willy Caballero.
Di Maria was introduced after half an hour for Benzema, and Real started to play at their rhythm.
Isco was sent clear by Di Maria after the break, but failed to keep his cool in front of goal and fired over.
Second-placed Atletico were missing suspended duo Joao Miranda and Mario Suarez while Espanyol were able to put out their first choice 11.
Espanyol have found success this season with a solid formation, but they lack creativity going forward, and the opening stages against Atletico was a game of attrition as neither side ceded much space.
Gradually openings began to appear mainly for Atletico as David Villa went close with a couple of headers, and Gabi volleyed over from a corner, while at the other end Thibaut Courtois made a smart save to block a deflected Pizzi strike.
Costa made the breakthrough as he went past Diego Colotto with a burst of speed and placed the ball beyond Casilla’s dive.
Atletico looked shaky in the final stages and they needed Courtois to parry a dangerous drive from David Lopez.
Elsewhere, Rayo Vallecano de Madrid beat UD Almeria 3-1 and Levante UD went down 1-0 at home to RC Celta de Vigo.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
RSS