Atletico Madrid are firm favourites to win this season’s Spanish La Liga crown as current holders Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Real Sociedad.
Real Madrid’s hopes of retaining the La Liga title have been dealt a huge blow on Monday as the Galacticos had to scrap to salvage a draw against the club from San Sebastian.
The night could have ended much worse if it were not for Vinicius’ goal in the 89th minute after Portu gave the away side the lead in the 55th minute.
The weekend saw Real’s rivals, Atletico and Barcelona both win as Atleti went 6 points clear at the top of the table and Madrid’s last minute draw has bridged that to 5 points now, however the league leaders have a game in hand.
The city rivals will face off on Sunday at the Wanda Metropolitano and Diego Simeone’s side will fancy their chances at home against Zinedine Zidane’s champions.
The Galacticos were on a good run prior to this game as they won 5 in a row and had not conceded a goal in those 5 games either.
Portu opened the scoring for Real Sociedad. (Photo by Indira/DAX Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Real Sociedad changed that in the second half, however, as Portu connected on a Nacho Monreal cross to head past helpless Thibaut Courtois as the ball thudded off the crossbar and bounced down past the line.
Madrid were definitely the stronger side and created many more chances than their opponents but they just could not put the ball into the back of the net.
Mariano Diaz had a golden opportunity to give the Madridistas something to cheer about but he somehow missed his header from a yard out to keep the scores level in the first half.
Toni Kroos and Marco Asensio also came extremely close to scoring but Real Sociedad still looked threatening on the counter, unfortunately, lacked the quality to find the killer pass.
After Portu opened the scoring, Madrid had to push a little bit more in the second half to get the goal. Zidane brought on Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Hugo Duro to infuse more youth and pace to the Madrid attack.
Casemiro and Duro, both had golden opportunities to score in what felt like “one of those days”. Rodrygo failed to hit the target as well as another chance went begging before Vinicius, finally, scored in the 89th minute after pouncing on a Lucas Vasquez cross to secure a point for the champions.
Hugo Duro could have won the game in the last minute but only managed to head the ball over the cross bar as Real Sociedad managed to earn a deserved point.
The Madrid derby will be a potential 6-pointer and Real need to get a result much more than Atleti do. Barcelona are also in the hunt still and you cannot rule them out yet. The Catalans will be hoping for a draw between the sides to try and help them close the gap at the top as well.
Spain’s La Liga race is heating up! Who will come out on top?
