Real Back On Track In LaLiga Title Race
02 May, 2021
Real Madrid 2-0 Osasuna
Real Madrid kept their title hopes alive with a 2-0 victory over Osasuna on Saturday evening.
Los Blancos made four changes from their 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League semi-final first-leg, as Eden Hazard made his begin since returning from injury alongside rare starts for Alvaro Odriozola, Antonio Blanco and a return for Marco Asensio.
After a quiet start, Manuel Sanchez came the closest to breaking the deadlock for Osasuna in the 22nd minute with a cross at the near post that took an awful deflection but goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois back-tracked with time to parry your time and effort over the bar.
Zinedine Zidane's charges were thrilled from then on as Hazard was unlucky not to provide them with the lead in the 25th minute after seeing his strike tipped over the bar by shot-stopper Sergio Herrera, who did well to keep out Eder Militao's powerful header minutes later.
Madrid had a scare on the stroke of half-time after Chimy Avila found the back of the web for Osasuna with a glancing header from Sanchez's cross after a counter-attack however the goal was disallowed for offside.
Militao had a chance to break the deadlock for the hosts just before the hour-mark with a magnificent volley unmarked at the trunk post that sailed over the bar after a free-kick by Asensio.
Militao finally broke the deadlock for Madrid within the last 14 minutes with a thumping header in a crowded area towards the far post after a corner by Isco.
Casemiro quickly doubled the lead for Los Blancos four minutes later after his heavy touch from Karim Benzema's through ball wrong-footed Herrera and found the bottom corner.
Both goals were enough for Zidane's men to secure the spoils that saw them keep pressure on leaders Atletico, still two points adrift in second place.
Elche 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid cemented top spot in LaLiga with a narrow 1-0 make an impression on Elche on Saturday evening.
Only five changes from Atletico showed off the trunk of their loss to Athletic Bilbao, with Mario Hermoso, Jose Gimenez, Thomas Lemar, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Luis Suarez called in.
Atleti were desperate going to the bottom running 16 minutes in and it seemed that through a simple finish from Suarez off a cutback from Marcos Llorente, however the flag went up for offside.
However, the league leaders had to wait just seven minutes for the breakthrough as Llorente drilled a first-time volley past goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga from an unmarked position in the six-yard area.
Elche struggled to carry ground on the stroke of halftime and seemed to have given away a penalty from an arm employed by Diego Gonzalez off a go by Angel Correa, nonetheless it was overturned by VAR.
The away side made a solid start to the first stages of the next half and were near a second from a go on the left-side of the region by Suarez, but he nestled the side-netting.
Suarez was denied by the offside flag yet again in the midway spell of the next stanza carrying out a smart tap-in from a ball by Correa with the original work from Kieran Trippier.
Atleti added fresh faces eight minutes from time, with Suarez making method for Saul Niguez nonetheless they weren’t able to increase their tally although the 1-0 win cemented top spot for another match day.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za
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