Brazilian striker Neymar opened the scoring line in the 21st minute only to be levelled by Cedric Bakambu ten minutes later.
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It is unthinkable that a side that shut out Lionel Messi and Barcelona over two legs in the quarter-finals will concede three times on Tuesday, especially with the game in Turin.
The dire start persuaded Granada boss Tony Adams to make a tactical switch in the 18th minute, with defensive midfielder Uche replacing winger and fellow Watford loanee Aly Malle.
“I tried not to think about the importance of match I was playing in”, he said. “Any football fan should appreciate what Neymar does, sometimes it’s more like ballet than football”.
He was also a substitute for the first leg of the Real’s UEFA Champions League semi-final against the Rojiblancos, and was approached by Simeone as he ran past the Atletico boss to do some warm-up exercises. We know there are players who feature less but you can sense we are never less than fully dedicated.
However, they were remarkably wasteful in the final 50 minutes. “If we do that, Atletico Madrid will cause some harm”, he said.
“I’d like to play in every game, like everybody else”, he said. It shows that all of the players are focussed and intent on doing well.
“Every match against Atletico is hard because they are a great team, with great players”.
Real Madrid has beaten its opponent, Granada, with a 4-0 victory on May 6.
And Saul Niguez’s victor 21 minutes from time ensured they now need just one more point from their final two games to guarantee third place in La Liga ahead of Sevilla and avoid a Champions League qualifier in August.
“We’re in an important place in the absence of two matchdays and we have the dream of being able to confirm [third] in our next game”.
Real Madrid is tied with Barcelona for points, but Barca has a better goal differential (aka the difference between “goals for” and “goals against.”) If Real Madrid loses or draws any of their remaining games, they’ll practically hand the title over to Barca.
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