With injuries and absences mounting up for the league leaders, Real Madrid tiring under the weight of a hectic schedule, the majority of the weekend action came in one game – Atlético Madrid’s 6-1 thrashing of Sevilla. Read more on all that with our latest column from Spain.
By Ben Hayward, LaLiga expert
Barcelona make hard work of struggling Valencia
Óscar Hernández stood in for brother Xavi on the touchline for Barcelona’s LaLiga game against Camp Nou on Sunday afternoon. Xavi was banned after picking up five yellow cards in LaLiga this season and had to watch from the stands. Midfielder Gavi was suspended too and Barça were also without Pedri, Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembélé through injury.
With those absences, the Blaugrana were well below their best against their struggling visitors but took all three points thanks to a Raphinha header after 15 minutes. Later, Ferran Torres scuffed a penalty against the outside of the post and with five minutes left, Valencia thought they should have had a spot-kick themselves as Fran Pérez got ahead of Franck Kessié and went down in the area.
Valencia were unhappy with that decision, but replays showed it was probably correct. “I’ve watched it back and I don’t think it’s a penalty,” Xavi said afterwards. But the Barça boss was again frustrated that his team had not put the game to bed by that point. “It’s a shame because we should be talking about a comfortable win,” he said. “Our lack of effectiveness meant we had to suffer until the end.”
With centre-back Ronald Araújo sent off after 89 minutes, that suffering was exacerbated in the final few minutes and the defender’s red card will mean another absence to contend with. “It’s the moment to suffer with so many players out,” Xavi said. “But it makes us stronger.”
Barça moved nine points clear at the top of LaLiga after Real Madrid were held at Real Betis later on Sunday. Valencia are second to bottom and two points behind 17th-placed Sevilla, still very much in trouble with 14 rounds of the competition remaining.
Madrid draw a blank at Betis
Real Madrid, without the suspended Luka Modrić and with David Alaba and Ferland Mendy missing through injury, dropped two points away to Real Betis in an entertaining encounter on Sunday night and Los Blancos now fall a little further behind Barcelona at the top of the table.
Karim Benzema thought he had given Madrid the lead after 12 minutes with a free-kick, but the ball went in off the arm of Real defender Antonio Rüdiger and was ruled out following a VAR check.
Both Benzema and Vinícius Júnior struggled to make much of an impact in the rest of the match and coach Carlo Ancelotti was left frustrated by his side’s lack of sharpness in attack once again.
“We’re not effective enough,” the Italian said. “We’re not choosing the best solutions.” And he added: “I’m affected by it a lot, also the players because we have the quality to score more goals, as we always have before. The problem is there: we’re lacking efficiency.”
Asked if LaLiga was lost, he said: “No. Not yet. We’re not thinking about that. We have to fight until the end. I don’t know what will happen in LaLiga, we have a lot of matches. But it’s obvious that we have to do better.”
Atlético celebrate Diego Simeone’s landmark game
Atlético Madrid paid tribute to coach Diego Simeone on Saturday night as the Argentine overtook club legend Luis Aragones in his record 613th game for the club. And after a presentation before kick-off, the Rojiblancos produced one of their best displays of the season as they swept aside Sevilla in a 6-1 win at the Metropolitano.
Memphis Depay scored twice, including a spectacular second from distance, and he looks like the latest shrewd striker signing from Barcelona in recent years (after David Villa and Luis Suárez both helped Atleti to LaLiga titles following their moves). Maybe next season?
Substitute Álvaro Morata also scored twice late on, but the standout player was once again Antoine Griezmann. The France forward scored with a lovely long-range effort, assisted the first for Depay and was at the heart of everything positive for Atlético in attack.
Griezmann hugged Simeone after his goal and said: “An important day for him is an important day for me. I really wanted to make this a magical day for him, for the fans and for my team-mates.”
Simeone’s future has been in doubt lately, but Atlético’s fine form since the World Cup saw them move up to third this weekend after this win and Real Sociedad’s draw at home to Cádiz. “I’m calm, at peace, and where I want to be,” the Argentine said.
Sevilla looking over their shoulder
Sevilla are definitely not where they want to be, though, as this defeat to Atlético sees them dragged down into the danger zone once again after a recent revival. Jorge Sampaoli’s side are 17th, level on points with Almería below them.
At the very bottom, Elche secured only their second win of the campaign. They beat Mallorca 1-0 away from home, but still have plenty of catching up to do with 12 points from their 24 games.
Villarreal are sixth following a 2-0 win at Almería, making it back-to-back victories for the Yellow Submarine after four straight defeats. The home side, meanwhile, were unable to find the kind of form they showed in beating Barcelona last weekend and drop into the bottom three. Up next for them: a huge game at Sevilla on Sunday.
(Images from IMAGO)
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