Real Madrid on Sunday were left to rue a series of near misses as they stumbled to a 0-0 home draw with Athletic Bilbao, dropping two points adrift of Barcelona in a tight title race.
Real also drew 0-0 last week at Barcelona, but Sunday’s result leaves them on 37 points at the halfway 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 goal-line with a back-heel, and both Rodrygo and Vincius Jr forced snap saves on a frustrating night for Madrid.
Photo: Reuters
Real defender Eder Militao was forced off after being poked in the eye and his replacement, Nacho Fernandez, hit the woodwork.
Coach Zinedine Zidane brought on Gareth Bale and Luka Jovic, but Madrid failed to find a winner.
“It was neither bad luck nor complacency,” Zidane said. “There’s no reason to get depressed about this, we need to keep calm and keep our heads up. We created lots of chances and if we keep going then they’ll start going in. I feel sorry for the players. It would have been nice for them to get more; three points from three games isn’t great.”
For Bilbao, Kenan Kodro’s thunderbolt was ruled out for offside in the first half, while the Santiago Bernabeu lived on its nerves when Athletic flooded forward deep into stoppage-time, with Asier Villalibre almost clinching a winner at the death.
In Seville, 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 Balompie.
The red-and-white half of Madrid were in the doldrums after a home defeat to Barcelona a month ago, but they have since qualified for the UEFA Champions League round-of-16, where they can savor the chance of measuring themselves against Liverpool.
World and European champions Liverpool travel to Madrid in February for the first leg and would have noted the commitment inspired by Atletico’s feisty Argentine coach Diego Simeone.
“Correa showed what he’s made of today, we’ve been training him hard. He put on good pressure to get the first goal and a nice pass for the second, but I was just as pleased to see him fighting for the win right at the end, when the team needed him,” Simeone said.
The goals all came after the break as second-half substitute Correa came on for struggling France international Thomas Lemar on 56 minutes and scored with his first touch of the game to set Atletico on the road to a third straight win.
Former Real Madrid, Juventus and Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata gave Atletico a 2-0 lead late on, before a stoppage-time consolation strike from Marc Bartra.
It also ended five straight away draws for Atletico, who have managed just 20 goals in the first half of the season.
Elsewhere, Real Sociedad won a seven-goal thriller 4-3 at CA Osasuna, CD Leganes defeated RCD Espanyol 2-0 and Levante UD beat RC Celta de Vigo 3-1.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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