La Liga returned after the Christmas break this weekend, and Spain's giants had contrasting fortunes in their respective fixtures.
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Spain’s top-flight football league La Liga resumed action this weekend, and it was an interesting weekend as far as results are concerned.
The most notable results came for Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Catalan giants beat Mallorca 1-0 thanks to a Luuk de Jong bicycle kick in the first half.
Real Madrid, however, suffered a shock loss thanks to a solitary goal from Enes Unal. The Madrid side still sit atop the standings, however, with 46 points from 20 games.
Yet the result was not an ideal one for Los Blancos – not least because they lost to a side currently 16th in the league.
Madrid’s 8-point lead also has something to do with the fact that they’ve played two more games than second-place Sevilla. Should they win those games in hand, the title fight will be a lot closer.
There’s also the fact that Madrid conceded thanks to an error from arguably one of their players of this season. Eder Militao was pressed by Unal, who won the ball back inside the box then converted.
Crucially they managed to hang on to that lead for the remainder of the game. It helped, of course, that Real were largely blunt in attack. Despite having 75% of possession, they managed only 4 shots on target.
When Real did conjure up a decent chance, goalkeeper David Soria was on hand to deny them. The side clearly missed the energetic Vinicius Jr. up front, absent due to a positive COVID-19 test.
However, it was far from an ideal showing from Carlo Ancelotti’s men, who will need to improve quickly in the upcoming fixtures.
For Barcelona, the need for improvement in terms of football identity has long been evident. But they have gotten a few good results lately – and managed to grind out another against Mallorca.
The result is doubly impressive given the Catalans were missing a number of first-team players due to positive COVID-19 tests. To make things worse, there were a few missing with either injuries or even suspensions.
The result sees Barcelona climb to fifth, one point behind Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeone’s side also restarted their campaign with a victory, beating Rayo Vallecano 2-0.
FT #RCDMallorcaBarça 0-1
?❤️➕3⃣ @LuukdeJong9 heads @FCBarcelona to a valuable three points!#LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/Ran4jwvxA1
— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) January 2, 2022
Elche and Granada played out a 0-0 draw, whereas Real Sociedad and and Alaves played out a score draw as their game ended 1-1.
Real Betis, however, suffered a shock loss to twelfth-place Celta Vigo. Betis currently sit third in the table but are only a point ahead of Atletico at this time.
La Liga: Real Madrid notch hard-fought win as Atletico, Valencia also register wins
