Third-placed Barcelona, three points off the pace, play Sporting Gijon later on Saturday.
Advertisement
Madrid’s presence in the final four alone is down to the heroics of Ronaldo, who scored a second-leg hat-trick in his team’s quarter-final against Wolfsburg, who lost 3-2 on aggregate, having won 2-0 in Germany. “Of the three title candidates, we are in the best position, but we have no margin for error”.
Each week, ESPN FC forecasts and reviews the scoring battle between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in La Liga.
“I’m a little bit surprised”, Suarez told Movistar+.
Rayo are known as a team that concentrates on the attacking part of the game more than on a defence, often allowing the goals to fully flow and that promises for a interesting encounter. “And Andres’ magic is always there”.
“Cristiano’s injury is nothing serious, but he will not play against Rayo [Vallecano, on Saturday]”, “Zizou” says.
Rayo stunned Madrid by taking a 2-0 lead by the 14th minute, thanks to goals by Adrian Embarba and Ladislao “Miku” Fedor.
However, Bale’s powerful header halved the deficit before half-time and he fired home the victor nine minutes from time after Lucas Vazquez had equalized early in the second period. The reserve forward, however, came through with a headed goal of his own in the 52nd.
The home side did well to contain Real over the next half-hour but just when it looked like Zidane’s side would be held to a point, Bale picked up a loose ball in midfield, showed explosive pace to get into a great position before slotting the victor into the bottom corner on 81 minutes.
“We fought hard”, he said.
With only three more matches after this round, Madrid could not have gotten off to a worst start.
Manuel Pellegrini hailed the flawless preparation for Manchester City as they routed Stoke 4-0 ahead of their Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid on Tuesday. “We have to slow him down a bit, but he knows he can not play against Rayo”. “It is a blow”.
Atletico plays Malaga at home today, and then hosts Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinals on Wednesday.
Malaga defended well until substitute Angel Correa went on and five minutes later struck a long ball that took a deflection to bend around goalie Guillermo Ochoa for the 62nd-minute victor. Still, we’re fine and in very good form, so what we have to do is continue [winning].
Advertisement
Pellegrini left out Fernandinho and captain Vincent Kompany but both will be available on Tuesday, with Kompany in full training following his comeback from a month out with his latest calf injury in last Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Newcastle.
