Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio scored either side of the break in Real Madrid’s comfortable win over rivals Atletico. Meanwhile, Barcelona were held by Osasuna, who pegged the Blaugrana back twice.
Xavi Hernandez’s men suffered another setback in their quest to close the gap at the top of the table as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Osasuna. The Blaugrana twice took the lead in the game but were pegged back by their opponents both times.
La Masia graduate Nico Gonzalez scored the opening goal of the game in the twelfth minute. The young midfielder timed his run to perfection to get to the end of a lofted pass by Gavi before calmly slotting the ball past Sergio Herrera. However, Osasuna centre-back David Garcia leveled the scores two minutes later by heading in a set-piece.
The Catalans retook the lead in the 49th minute through another one of their academy products, Abde Ezzalzouli. The winger burst into the box on the break, held his position, and volleyed the ball into the roof of the net from close range from an Ousmane Dembele cross.
But, Barcelona’s inability to kill the game came back to haunt them as Ezequiel Avila equalized for Osasuna again in the 86th minute with a well-struck shot from outside the box.
Eighteen points ahead of Barcelona are Real Madrid, who beat their city rivals Atletico Madrid in the derby, 2-0, thanks to goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio.
The Frenchman opened the scoring in the 16th minute, combining to deadly effect, with his in-form teammate Vinicius Jr. The Frenchman held his run to find space between Atletico’s retreating defence and midfield lines and volleyed Vinicius’ cross past Jan Oblak the first time of asking.
Los Rojiblancos created plenty of good chances in response with Antoine Griezmann, Joao Felix, and Matheus Cunha all testing Thibaut Courtois. However, Asensio landed the killer blow three minutes before the hour mark by scoring Real Madrid’s second – and final – goal of the game.
Vinicius played a key role again, as it was his pass that the Spaniard curled around Oblak from close range to put his side two up.
Thanks to their latest win, Real climbed to 42 points, eight ahead of nearest challengers Sevilla. Reigning champions Atelti, meanwhile, languish in fourth place, 13 behind their rivals.
