Atletico and Real won their ties on the penultimate matchday of La Liga. Both the Madrid clubs have a shot at winning the title on the final day of the season, albeit they won’t be joined by Barcelona, who crashed out of the race.
And then there were two. La Liga witnessed one of the closest title races in years this season, with as many as four teams vying for the championship during the last few weeks. Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid were all within three points of each other until a month ago; Barcelona and Sevilla fell behind lately and can no longer mathematically win the title.
While Sevilla’s brief title charge was over two weeks ago, Barcelona were only officially eliminated from the title race in the bygone match week. The Blaugrana had done well to re-establish themselves as a contender in the first place by remaining unbeaten through large parts of the year. However, with just one win in their last five – and several opportunities to leapfrog Atletico at the top wasted – Ronald Koeman’s side fell out of the running. Their loss to Celta Vigo on the penultimate matchday of the season confirmed that they could no longer match, or surpass, the tallies of both their rivals.
Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Barcelona against Eduardo Coudet’s side in the first half. However, his 30th goal of the season wasn’t enough to see his side through, as they fell behind through a Santi Mina brace. Clement Lenglet was shown a red card late on to compound their misery.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid took on Athletic Club de Bilbao, knowing that failure to match their rivals’ results would see them drop out of the title race. Nacho ensured that that wasn’t to be the case, as he scored the game’s only goal midway through the second half. There was a momentary gap as VAR scanned for a possible offside against Karim Benzema in the build-up. However, the technology confirmed the legitimacy of the goal, allowing Los Blancos to celebrate wildly.
Zinedine Zidane’s side held onto their lead for the remainder of the match, although their job was made much easier by Raul Garcia receiving a red card. The sending off came late into the match, but it allowed the capital club to cruise through the final stages with ease. Their win kept them two points behind Atletico Madrid – who remained on top – with just one more match to play.
The pressure has really built up for the Rojiblancos over the past couple of months. They held a significant lead over their two closest challengers early in the season, but poor results following the turn of the year saw that lead cut to just one. Atletico survived a scare after scare, as both Barcelona and Real Madrid fluffed their chances to displace them at the top of the league table. They are now within one win of the first league title since 2014.
Atleti dominated the proceedings during their match against Osasuna. However, it was the minnows that took the lead in the 75th minute. Ante Budimir scored the goal that seemed to have broken red and white hearts and handed the advantage over to their fierce city rivals. However, fueled by their hunger to end the trophy drought, Atletico hit back. Renan Lodi scored the equalizing goal in the 82nd minute – the left-back controlling a Joao Felix pass before blasting in a shot from close range.
The winner came two minutes from the time, and it was Luis Suarez who scored it. The former Barcelona man tapped in a Yannick Carrasco cross from the centre of the box, sparking wild celebrations. Atletico held onto their narrow lead and were able to secure all three points.
