Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid both won their La Liga games on Saturday to keep the pressure on Barcelona atop the Spanish league table.
Gareth Bale made up for the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, scoring late in Real Madrid’s 1-0 win at Real Sociedad, while Antoine Griezmann netted just moments after entering the game at the Vicente Calderon stadium to give Atletico a 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano de Madrid.
Atletico moved to 85 points, one more than Madrid. Barcelona dropped to third place on 82 points ahead of yesterday’s game at Real Betis.
Photo: Reuters
There are two rounds left after this weekend.
Atletico won despite playing with only four players from the starting lineup that defeated Bayern Munich 1-0 in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday at the Vicente Calderon.
Coach Diego Simeone, serving a three-game suspension for throwing a second ball onto the field in the previous league round, rested most of the regular starters on Saturday ahead of the return game in Germany tomorrow.
However, with his team struggling, Simeone put Griezmann into the game and the French striker scored right away with a shot from just inside the area in the 55th minute, giving Atletico their seventh straight victory. Atletico have not conceded a goal in six consecutive games.
“Rayo made things difficult for us,” Griezmann said. “The players who started lacked rhythm, which was normal, they hadn’t played in a long time. But we were able to improve and got the win.”
Bale scored with a firm header after a well-placed cross by Lucas Vazquez in the 80th, giving Madrid their 10th straight league win in a difficult match at Anoeta Stadium.
Madrid were without Ronaldo and Benzema because of hamstring injuries ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final against Manchester City. The first leg was 0-0 in England.
“We have been suffering with injuries, but the team has responded well,” Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos said. “The players who have come in have played well, this has been key for us.”
Real Madrid dominated from the start, but had trouble getting past Sociedad’s Argentine goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
“We knew it was going to be a difficult match, but we went for the win from the start,” Ramos said. “We created a lot of chances, but just couldn’t capitalize on them.”
Bale had already missed a few good opportunities before finally scoring the winner in the northeastern city of San Sebastian.
His best chance had been in the 57th, when he got to a loose ball inside the area, but his low shot from near the penalty spot was blocked by Rulli.
Bale finally broke through by jumping high over a defender to meet Vazquez’s cross from the right side, sending the ball into the upper corner.
“We earned three important points, now the only thing we can do is hope that the other teams fail atop the standings,” Ramos said. “We put some pressure on them. Let’s see what happens.”
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