Valencia are enjoying a mini-revival under Pako Ayestaran, while Barcelona are mired in a slump.
Advertisement
Atletico Madrid players celebrate after teammate Jorge Resurreccion or Koke, celebrates after scoring the opening goal against Granada during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Granada at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid, Sunday, April 17, 2016. It holds a big lead over second-place Tottenham, and the difference to third-place Manchester City is already up to 13 points.
They have just won once in their last six games – the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final – and have lost their last three games in the league to Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and, on Sunday, at home to struggling Valencia.
Atletico Madrid will play Athletic Bilbao in their next La Liga match and a win could see them leapfrog Barcelona to the top of the Spanish La Liga. Their chemistry before the rot set in was evident, with Luis Enrique joking in February that all he had to do was say “Abracadabra” to get them to work their magic.
Barca has taken just one point from its last four Liga matches and has also been dumped out of the Champions League but their manager remains in a bullish mood.
“Our margin for error has run out and we are aware of the challenge”, he said, denying that fatigue has been a factor.
From being a one-horse race, it now looks like being a thrilling three-way fight for the title and Atletico’s striker Fernando Torres said his side are reaping the rewards for never giving up even when Barca were streaking ahead.
They dominated from start to finish against a Valencia side who had just 31 per cent possession.
That result heaped more pressure on out-of-form Barcelona, who fell behind to an Ivan Rakitic own goal, before Santi Mina’s fourth goal of the season doubled Valencia’s advantage at a stunned Camp Nou.
Lionel Messi’s 500th career goal gave Barca hope. They are now up to 12th in the table on 40 points.
“We were not able to win the last games”, Robert said.
Advertisement
“We have vindicated ourselves as a team”. “We have to win our next game because we are facing difficulties and it is in a hard ground”. “There are always incentives and every game is an opportunity”.
