Atlético Madrid face the break with the same income, with the same mattress. He is four points behind Barça, who beat Anoeta in Real Sociedad
Atletico Madrid, whose doubts threaten and question his status as a leader in the decisive stretch of the season, He took a break, a relief, just before the stop of the competition to give way to the commitments of the teams.
The break for Diego Pablo Simeone’s team will be good for him. The setbacks, insecurity and speed of his pursuers have in recent times called into question the achievement of a title he looked at with authority not many weeks ago.
A bad streak, diametrically different from the one he enjoyed in the first round and a European upheaval, have caught some pessimism in the Metropolitan, Where Atletico Madrid won this time a victory, suffered, against Alabès(1-0) to keep distances and options intact.
Between Luis Suárez and Jan Oblak they alleviated the white and red bleeding. Between the two they aired a compromise that looked bad, hurried and aimed at a greater threat from Barcelona and Real Madrid, which do not fail. In fact, the Barça team is scared while the white box insists.
Atlético Madrid face the break with the same income, with the same mattress. He has four points for Barça, who beat Anoeta in Real Sociedad (1-6), and six for Real Madrid, who insist and carry out their commitments.
Simeone’s team is not the same as the first leg of the course. But just as then the resources of Luis Suárez and Jan Oblak were decisive in the visit of the Alabès to the Metropolitan. The Uruguayan scored the winning goal. The Slovenian goalkeeper tied it when he stopped a penalty five minutes from the end that would have meant another.
The 500th goal in the South American’s race, the nineteenth with Atletico Madrid’s shirt and as definitive as his team in eight of the last twelve rojiblancas victories. Then came Oblak’s, a little thin from eleven meters in recent times. He stopped Joselu’s shot and avoided a concession of unthinkable consequences for the future of the competition.
And Barcelona is in orbit. With numbers in his last matches similar to those of the mattress set in the first round. Ronald Koeman’s side have a total of fifteen wins and three draws in their last eighteen league games.
There was a feast in Messi’s game 768, which became the player with the most encounters in the history of Barcelona. He celebrated it with a double in the Barça exhibition in Anoeta, where he highlighted the Royal Society.
After Marc Andre Ter Stegen saved his team at the start, Koeman’s set was unstoppable. Antoine Griezmann and Serginho Dest sentenced before the half. The American winger, a double by Messi and Dembele adorned the thrashing that frightens the leader (1-6). Barcelona does not falter, pending a minimum failure of Atlético to storm the summit.