Barca suffer another loss, relief for Real

Barca are now a distant seventh, 12 points off leaders Atletico Madrid, who beat Real Valladolid 2-0

Madrid: Lionel Messi’s Barcelona suffered a fourth Liga defeat of the season as they went down 2-1 to Cadiz on Saturday, while Real Madrid eased the pressure on Zinedine Zidane with their first league win since October.

Barca are now a distant seventh, 12 points off leaders Atletico Madrid, who beat Real Valladolid 2-0. Koeman made three changes from the midweek Champions League win at Ferencvaros with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen coming in for Neto. But Ter Stegen made a first costly error in Andalusia after eight minutes as Alvaro Gimenez claimed his second goal in as many games.

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The Barca defence failed to clear a corner which fell to Ter Stegen, but his weak parry onto his own line was tapped in by Gimenez. Koeman’s men were all-square after 56 minutes as Jordi Alba’s low cross was deflected into his own goal by defender Pedro Alcala. But Ter Stegen’s second costly error came eight minutes later.

Clement Lenglet made a hash of Alba’s throw in before Ter Stegen failed to clear under pressure from Negredo and the former Manchester City striker claimed his third goal league goal of the campaign. Under-pressure Zidane said Madrid’s scrappy 1-0 victory in Seville was significant after a testing run of results.

Sevilla goalkeeper Bono guided Vinicius Junior’s effort into his own net in the second half, allowing Zidane’s side to take the three points and move up to third in the table, six points behind Atletico. Following two defeats in the past three games, including a 2-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek that leaves Real’s Champions League qualification hopes in the balance, Spanish press reports have linked former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino and ex-Madrid forward Raul to Zidane’s job.

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