Serious Madrid gifted Barcelona a La Liga title whenever a second-string side could only draw 1-1 at Espanyol to leave Tito Vilanova's market leaders seven points clear, with their rivals having only several games left.
José Mourinho fielded some weakened team with an individual eye on next Friday's Copa del Rey final against Atlético This town, Real's last chance for major silverware this year, giving the occasion a sense of anti-climax.
Christian Stuani gave Espanyol the lead in the first half, and although Gonzalo Higuaín drawn one back for Real with the second half it were enough to stop Barça securing the league trophy.
Barcelona, whom visit third-placed Atlético Madrid on Sunday, have 88 ideas with four games eventually left to play. Real have 81 in second, experiencing played two more agrees with than their rivals.
"We ought to congratulate Barça. The league is a competition all about reliability, " Real's Xabi Alonso shared with Spanish broadcaster Canal And.
"We didn't start the growing season well and this suggested we couldn't compete at the end. Now we have to pay attention to the cup as this is the title we still will need to compete for. "
Regardless of the odd La Liga crown being at stake, Real started with names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and Karim Benzema over the bench, and mid-table Espanyol, who have little left to play for the season, sniffed the chance on an upset. The game took a turn for ones worse for Real when Raphaël Varane fell awkwardly for the reason that he made a tackle and went down clutching his right leg.
The promising young French defender must be substituted soon after, and in the 28th minute Stuani pounced on the loose ball in the region at a corner to help you fire the hosts in the front.
Espanyol were unlucky to have a second goal ruled out after, while Real offered little moving forward until Higuaín flicked a header within the far post from Luka Modric's free-kick ahead of the hour mark.
The equaliser came a few minutes after Real's top scorer Ronaldo had entered the fray as well as the visitors steadily increased the pressure in the Espanyol goal, although they rarely looked like finding the winner.
Espanyol had midfielder Víctor Sánchez sent off in the final analysis for a dangerous take on on Higuaín, giving Ronaldo one final chance to grab successful with a freekick, but his attempt was higher and wide summing upwards Real's poor night.
No comments:
Post a Comment