La Liga: Madrid derby ends in draw

The result allows FC Barcelona to move to within three points of Atletico and two ahead of Real Madrid thanks to a 2-0 win away to Osasuna on Saturday night

Madrid: Karim Benzema’s 88th minute goal kept Real Madrid in the race for the La Liga title on Sunday as he canceled out Luis Suarez’s opener for Atletico Madrid in a 1-1 draw in the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

Suarez’s 14th minute goal, following excellent work from Marco Llorente, looked as if it was going to allow Atletico to open up an eight-point gap over their neighbours in the table, and Atletico were good value for their lead for much of the game on Sunday.

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However, after being aggressive for much of the game, they sat deep in the last 15 minutes and allowed Real Madrid to attack them, with Benzema’s goal after an exchange of passes with Casemiro punishing that decision.

The result allows FC Barcelona to move to within three points of Atletico and two ahead of Real Madrid thanks to a 2-0 win away to Osasuna on Saturday night. Goals from Jordi Alba and Illax Moriba gave Barca a hard-fought win against a rival that caused them lots of problems in the El Sadar Stadium.

Although Osasuna controlled the first half-hour of the game, Barca took the lead in the 30th minute when Messi picked out Jordi Alba, who finished with a powerful shot into the top of the net.

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen produced several excellent saves for Barca, the best of which was to deny Ruben Garcia, before young substitute Illax doubled Barca’s lead eight minutes from time with his first goal for the club.