Defenders Diego Godin and Filipe Luis scored on Saturday as Atletico Madrid bounced back from their mid-week thrashing by Borussia Dortmund with a 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad to move to the top of La Liga ahead of the season’s first El Clasico match.
Despite a stuttering start to the campaign, the poor form of both Barcelona and Real Madrid have allowed Diego Simeone’s side to drag themselves to the summit after a seven-game unbeaten run in the league.
Wednesday’s 4-0 thumping at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, Germany, was the heaviest defeat of Simeone’s seven years in charge, but Atletico put in a commanding display at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid.
Photo: EFE
“Today was 90 minutes that showed good togetherness, and creates enthusiasm and calmness,” Simeone said.
The 2014 Spanish champions are ahead of second-placed Barcelona by one point, with Real four farther adrift, with the two giants to have faced off yesterday at Camp Nou.
After a frustrating first 44 minutes, which saw Ruben Pardo twice go close for the visitors, Godin struck on the stroke of halftime, latching onto a loose ball to sweep home his first league goal since March last year.
Atletico dominated after the restart and leftback Luis put the game to bed on the hour mark with a curling effort after cutting inside onto his less-favored right foot.
Earlier on Saturday, Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui evaded questions regarding his future at the club after a woeful spell.
An unconvincing 2-1 mid-week win over Viktoria Plzen in the UEFA Champions League did little to lift the pressure on his shoulders after a run of five games without a win.
“I hope to still be breathing. I don’t think I am going to die,” the 52-year-old Lopetegui said at a news conference yesterday when asked what the future holds for him. “Everyone is 100 percent full of energy and my energies are 100 percent focused on helping the team.”
It will be the first Clasico since 2007 to feature neither Lionel Messi, who is injured, nor Cristiano Ronaldo, with Sergio Ramos the only survivor 11 years on in either side from that game.
“The Clasico existed before that. The Clasico has always been the Clasico, and there were even flying piglets,” said Barca boss Ernesto Valverde, with a reference to a meeting of the sides in 2002, when Barcelona fans threw a pig’s head at Luis Figo, their former idol who had crossed the divide to join Real in 2000. “There has always been tension.”
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