La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona had two very contrasting weekends after the latest round of La Liga matches.
Real Madrid fought back hard to secure a 2-2 La Liga draw over Elche, whereas Barcelona needed a late winner to avoid dropping points against Alaves.
It was a tale of two weekends for the Spanish giants, even though both have very different objectives at this point of the season.
For Real, the goal was always to extend their lead at the top of the table. Given second-placed Sevilla dropped points against Celta Viga earlier, it was a golden chance for Madrid to make their lead bigger.
Instead, they needed a last-gasp Eder Militao goal to even salvage a point. As such, the gap between them and Sevilla remains 4 points.
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? @SevillaFC_ENG
? @RealBetis_enThe full #LaLigaSantander table after Matchday 22. ? pic.twitter.com/nP5EmDMPrE
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Elche opened the scoring thanks to Lucas Boye finding the back of the nett in the first half. Pere Milla then scored after the break to double the lead.
But Real fought back and were rewarded at the end of the game. Luka Modric converted an 82nd minute penalty and a Vinicius Jr. cross in the 92nd minute found Militao, who headed in to save a point.
It says a lot that Barcelona won their match against Alaves but will be unhappy about the overall state of affairs. That is because it took a last-ditch Frenkie de Jong goal to secure all three points for the Blaugrana.
Before that, it looked like another day of huffing and puffing for Xavi Hernandez’s men. They looked laboured against weaker opposition yet again; indeed, it was Alaves who created better chances in the course of the game.
Sadly for them, they did not take their chances. And when a Ferran Torres pass found De Jong in a shooting position at close range, he did not hesitate to unleash.
? @FerranTorres20 gets his first assist since returning to #LaLigaSantander! #AlavesBarça pic.twitter.com/26zkZEUE5f
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As such, Barca walked away with all three points. But they did so in the knowledge that sorting out their myriad of on-field issues will take some time even now.
The result leaves them in fifth, one point behind Atletico Madrid in the race for the Top 4. The only positive for Barca is that Atletico have also had a mixed season thus far.
The defending champions are not in the hunt to retain their title, but for a Top 4 finish. As such, amazingly, Barcelona still have a chance of sneaking into the CL spots by the end of the season.
La Liga: Real Madrid notch hard-fought win as Atletico, Valencia also register wins