Real Madrid are back within touching distance of the top of La Liga once they punished another Atletico Madrid slide against Levante on Saturday by beating Real Valladolid 1-0. Atletico had the chance to extend their lead to 11 points this week by winning back games against Levante but instead they followed that a 1-1 draw Wednesday with a surprise 2-0 loss, meaning that a five-point edge became only six. Real Madrid cranked up the pressure again by edging into a win over struggling Real Valladolid, Casemiro’s second-half header cutting down the gap to three points, albeit with Atletico still owning a game in hand.
“It’s not Because Atletico dropped. We believe we can win the league,” said Casemiro.
“There are Nevertheless 42 points abandoned, that has lots of points”
The swing in Momentum comes at a terrible time for Atletico, that confront Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday, and it feels important since it’s coincided with a resurgence, at La Liga at the least, for their chasing rivals.
Real Madrid’s Success in the Jose Zorilla Stadium had been their fourth in a row, three of those coming with sterile sheets, which suggests a return to form for a defence that all but clinched them the title last year.
Zinedine Zidane’s side have achieved it without several key players too. Karim Benzema is the newest absentee through injury, joining the likes of Eden Hazard, Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal around the sidelines.
Benzema is
“It is Better, we’ll see tomorrowbut we aren’t likely to risk anything,” said Zidane.
It meant a rare Begin for Mariano Diaz up front against Valladolid, while Isco was the only senior player in the seat.
Barcelona,
Victory would
Atletico undone by Levante
Atleti’s defeat Was only their second in the league this season and their first at the Wanda Metropolitano in any competition since Barca beat them there in December 2019.
They’ve Gone seven league matches without a blank sheet, so their longest run as Simeone became trainer in 2011, and their hopes of tightening up won’t be aided by an injury to Jose Gimenez, who hobbled off and might not be fit to face Chelsea.
“League Campaigns are always the same, with large minutes, problems, obstacles, for everyone, not just because of Atletico Madrid,” Simeone said. “The teams who are powerful in those minutes are those which will reach their objectives.”
Due to Rearranged fixtures, they had been confronting Levante for the second time in 3 days and Levante demonstrated their draw in midweek was no fluke, even if they had to survive 28 Atletico shots before the final whistle blew.
Luis Suarez went Closest for an equaliser, his bending free-kick from the second half coming back to the post. Suarez has now gone three league games without scoring for the very first time this season.
Jose Luis Morales had put Levante before a deflected finish off Felipe and while Atletico huffed and puffed, they were unable to discover a way past Levante’s motivated goalkeeper Dani Cardenas.
Cardenas made 10 Saves, the maximum from any La Liga keeper without conceding this particular term.
Atletico’s Goalkeeper Jan Oblak then went up for a corner at injury-time, which makes Jorge de Frutos to make it 2 from the halfway line by starting into an open web.
“From the First half we had been flat,” said Simeone. “At the next we created a great deal of chances, Suarez struck the article — there was a lot of advantages to choose.”
For an hour Looked like Real Madrid could endure similar shame against a decided Valladolid, who’d have led had it not been for a string of excellent saves by Thibaut Courtois.
Courtois Had to pull off a double stop to deny Fabian Orellana and Saidy Janko at first half and then at the second blocked Orellana, who’d been set up by Ferland Mendy starting a ball round his own penalty area.
The Belgian kept Madrid inside it and Casemiro place them in front. Casemiro Was allowed two
