Madrid, April 12 : Atletico Madrid’s lead at the top of La Liga was reduced to just one point after a dramatic 30th round of matches.
Atletico were held to a 1-1 draw away to Betis in a game where Yannick Carrasco put them ahead after just five minutes only for Cristian Tello to equalise in the 20th minute of the game on Sunday, Xinhua news reported.
Atletico lost Joao Felix and Kieran Trippier through injury in the game, while Thomas Lemar also picked up an injury before kick-off.
Angel Correa missed a chance in the last minute of the game, leaving Atletico just one point ahead of Real Madrid, who beat FC Barcelona on Saturday.
First-half goals from Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos were enough for Real Madrid to win a hugely entertaining Clasico at home to Barcelona in a game that saw Oscar Mingueza pull a second-half goal back for Barca and youngster Ilaix Moriba rattle the Madrid crossbar with virtually the last kick of the match.
Benzema opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a backheel after Lucas Vazquez’s cross and Kroos doubled Madrid’s lead with a deflected free kick in the 27th minute as Madrid made Barca suffer on the break.
With the second half was played in pouring rain Mingueza scored for Barca from eight yards out and the game was in the balance until the final whistle as Real Madrid sat deep to defend in the closing minutes.
Villarreal’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Europa League suffered a setback as second-half goals from Jon Moncayola and Ante Budimir gave Osasuna a surprise 2-1 win in the Estadio de la Ceramica.
Real Sociedad were unable to capitalize on Villarreal’s defeat as they saw Valencia fight back from 2-0 down to claim a 2-2 draw in the Mestalla Stadium.
Ander Guevara after 33 minutes and Alexander Isak on the stroke of halftime, put ‘la Real’ 2-0 ahead, but Valencia (who had seen Carlos Soler miss a penalty at 0-0) got back into the game thanks to a goal from Daniel Wass, with Gabriel Paulista’s powerful 74th-minute header assuring the points were shared.
Valencia striker Maxi Gomez was sent off with 10 minutes left to play after apparently saying something out of turn to the referee.
Valladolid are still in trouble as Granada scored two late goals through Jorge Molina and Quini to cancel out Fabian Orellana’s first-half penalty.
A dreadful own goal from Getafe midfielder gave Cadiz a 1-0 win away to Getafe on Saturday lunchtime and left his side with work to avoid relegation.
Alaves goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco made three vital saves to deny Sancet, Unai Nunez and Alex Berenguer to earn his side a 0-0 draw away to Athletic Club Bilbao in Javier Calleja’s debut as coach.
That point sees Alaves climb above Eibar, who drop to the bottom of the table after Jorge de Frutos’s goal in the second minute of first-half injury time extended their winless run to 13 games.
Two goals from Huesca striker Rafa Mir helped climb out of the bottom three for the first time in 22 weeks as they beat Elche 3-1.The win continues Huesca’s improved form under coach Pacheta, who was released by Elche after leading them to promotion last season
.
