Madrid derby ends in a draw, favoring Barça’s hopes
The third consecutive Madrid derby in La Liga ended with a 1-1 draw, a result that likely pleased Barcelona the most this evening.
With no winner emerging from the match between Real Madrid and Atletico, Barcelona now has the opportunity to make a significant move at the top of the standings. If they manage to defeat Sevilla in Andalusia on Sunday night, they will close the gap to just one point behind Atletico and two points behind the reigning champions.
The “Madrileño” match can be segmented into two parts. Initially, Atletico executed their game plan effectively and took the lead through a penalty converted by Julián Alvarez. Following this, the home team piled on the pressure and arguably deserved more than just a draw.
The second half commenced with Real dominating the play, and Kylian Mbappe equalized in the 50th minute. The standout performer for Atletico in securing the point was Jan Oblak, who made remarkable saves against Vinicius Junior, Rodrigo, Dani Ceballos, and Jude Bellingham, the last of whom also struck the crossbar.
Mbappe recorded his 16th La Liga goal of the season and his ninth goal in all competitions for 2025.
Atletico posed additional threats later, but the match concluded at 1-1, much to the satisfaction of Barcelona supporters.
Athletic Bilbao continues to hold fourth place, convincingly defeating Girona 3-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Oihan Sanseto. Meanwhile, Villarreal claimed a 2-1 away victory against Las Palmas, with goals coming from Alex Baena and Ayoze Perez.
In Vigo, Celta bested Betis 3-2, despite the visitors initially leading 2-0 with a goal from new signing Antonio from Manchester United.
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