Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid played in their respective Saturday duels, opening the door for Real Madrid to extend their lead at the top of the Spanish league.
Barcelona first succumbed 1-0 as host of Betis. Hours later the defending champion Atlético was traced 2-1 at home against Mallorca.
The meringues lead with 36 points, with the option of adding in a few hours on their visit to the Real Sociedad field in their duel for the 16th round.
Atlético stagnated in 4th position with 29; the Barca marches in 7th place with 23; both have a pending duel left.
Matheus Cunha put the colchoneros in front when he finished off a second chance by Ángel Correa’s cross to open the account in the 68th minute.
The vermilion team reacted quickly to equalize with a Franco Russo header in the 80s.
In the first of the minutes of compensation, Takefusa Kubo sentenced the victory in a counterattack in which he headed for the area to define with a low cross shot to cause silence in the stands of the Wanda Metropolitano.
“It’s a game that we have to analyze, we have to improve many things,” said Atletico captain Jorge “Koke” Resurrección. “Now, in hot, there is not much to talk about.”
The mattress defeat comes a few days after having to face Porto on Tuesday, in the last match of the group stage of the Champions League, in which they necessarily need a victory and a combination of results to advance to the next phase.
XAVI SUFFERS HIS FIRST SET BACK
Juan Miguel Jiménez continued with his sweet moment in front of the goal by scoring the target with which Betis beat the Catalans 1-0 at the Camp Nou.
The victory propels Chilean strategist Manuel Pellegrini’s team to 3rd position with 30 points. The disaster holds Barcelona in 7th position.
Juanmi Jiménez sent a quick counterattack to the networks, which was led by Sergio Canales and Guido Rodríguez gave him in assistance, to open the account at 79.
“We have to improve a lot. He was a direct rival today and we have not been able to get the three points and continue ”, said Jordi Alba. “Now we have a very important Champions League game for us, the fans and the club and hopefully we will take it forward.”
Coach Xavi Hernández suffered the first setback since his time at Barcelona began; It had a couple of league wins and a draw in the Champions League.
In the middle of the week, Barca faces Bayern Munich on a visit, a duel in which they play their pass to the second round of the continental tournament.
Juanmi – who equaled Vinícius Júnior in the scoring sub-leadership with nine goals, three less in relation to leader Karim Benzema – missed the option of celebrating a double when from the VAR he was annulled a goal for an advanced position in the beginning of the complement.
Xavi’s scheme suffered a severe setback when the youthful Pablo Martín Páez “Gavi” received a ball in the head that forced him to leave the field on a stretcher when he was barely half an hour away. He was taken to a hospital to be assessed.
Betis took off Barça’s hegemony with their second victory in 21 games (16 defeats and three draws) and once again they prevailed at the Camp Nou as they did in November 2018 by 4-3. For his part, Pellegrini ended a 13-year streak without beating the Catalans.
SEVILLE TAKES BACK THE ROAD
Lucas Ocampos sent the ball into the net in the 16th minute for Sevilla to beat Villarreal 1-0 at home.
The Andalusian team retakes the path of victory to provisionally claim the sub-leadership with 31 points; the “Yellow Submarine” was 12th with 16.
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