Both Real Madrid and Barça fought back from behind to secure important victories over the weekend, extending their advantage at the top of La Liga – with their El Clasico match still in hand.
Barcelona were saved by a late winner from Arturo Vidal to secure a 2-1 victory over Leganes, who remain bottom of the league. After Leganes forward Youssef En-Nesyri had a scored superb opening goal, Barça’s Luis Suarez headed home a Lionel Messi free-kick to cancel it out.
Gareth Bale was jeered by his own fans at the Santiago Bernabeu – and where Real Madrid went behind after just 110 seconds against Real Sociedad.
The whistles for Gareth Bale come after his controversial celebration following Wales‘ win over Hungary last week, with a flag that read: ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.’
The fans jeered and whistled when his name was announced before kick-off, and then even louder when he came on as a substitute in the second half.
‘I can’t tell you it’s fair or unfair,’ said coach Zinedine Zidane after the match. ‘But we need our fans to be with us. I can’t control it, neither can Gareth or anyone. But Gareth came on and he played very well.’
Real Madrid finally took hold of the game with Karim Benzema scoring his sixth goal in five games, before Fede Valverde and Luka Modric wrapped up a 3-1 win in the second half.
Bale came on in the 67th minute and played well, with the whistles for his every touch gradually growing quieter. By the end of the match, some fans were some applauding as he almost capped a driving run with a goal. ‘He played 30 magnificent minutes,’ said Real Madrid director Emilio Butragueno.
Real Madrid’s fans were also given the chance to see Martin Odegaard, their 20-year-old Norwegian loan to Real Sociedad, who has been key to their strong start to the season.Odegaard impressed, with one through ball in the first half even drawing gasps of approval from the home support.
Barça‘s win against Leganes came as a relief to the fans. The team plays Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in the Champions League and a goalless draw against Slavia Prague earlier this month means qualification from Group F is no longer guaranteed.
After Dortmund, Barça then play at Atletico in La Liga to start a month that will include trips to Inter Milan in the Champions League and Real Sociedad in La Liga before the season’s first Clasico.
‘It was a big win because the game was very difficult,’ Valverde said. ‘The pitch was dreadful, there was a lot of wind and they scored early. I don’t want it to sound like an excuse but it made it hard and still we were able to win.’
Atletico Madrid lost further ground by being held to a 1-1 draw at Granada. Sevilla moved up to third place after their 2-0 victory at Real Valladolid on Sunday.
La Liga results from Matchday 14 (of 38) played between 22-24 November
Played Friday 22 November
Levante 2 Mallorca 1
Played Saturday 23 November
Leganes 1 Barcelona 2
Real Betis 2 Valencia 1
Granada 1 Atletico Madrid 1
Real Madrid 3 Real Sociedad 1
Played Sunday 24 November
Espanyol 1 Getafe 1
Osasuna 1 Athletic Bilbao 2
Eibar 0 Alaves 2
Villarreal 1 Celta Vigo 3
Valladolid 0 Sevilla 2
La Liga results from Matchday 13 (of 38) played between 8-10 November
Played Friday 8 November
Real Sociedad 1 Leganes 1
Played Saturday 9 November
Alaves 3 Valladolid 0
Valencia 2 Granada 0
Eibar 0 Real Madrid 4
Barcelona 4 Celta Vigo 1
Played Sunday 10 November
Mallorca 3 Villarreal 1
Athletic Bilbao 0 Levante 1
Atletico Madrid 3 Espanyol 1
Getafe 0 Osasuna 0
Real Betis 1 Sevilla 2
La Liga Table – Monday 25 November 2019
(Played, Won, Drawn, Lost, Goals For/Against, Points)
Barcelona 13 9 1 3 35 16 28
Real Madrid 13 8 4 1 28 10 28
Sevilla 14 8 3 3 18 14 27
Atletico Madrid 14 6 7 1 16 9 25
Athletic Bilbao 14 6 5 3 15 9 23
Real Sociedad 14 7 2 5 22 17 23
Getafe 14 5 6 3 19 16 21
Granada 14 6 3 5 20 18 21
Levante 14 6 2 6 18 17 20
Valencia 14 5 5 4 20 20 20
Osasuna 14 4 7 3 17 15 19
Villarreal 14 5 3 6 27 22 18
Alaves 14 5 3 6 16 18 18
Valladolid 14 4 5 5 14 16 17
Real Betis 14 4 4 6 17 24 16
Eibar 14 4 3 7 14 23 15
Mallorca 14 4 2 8 13 21 14
Celta Vigo 14 3 3 8 10 20 12
Espanyol 14 2 3 9 8 24 9
Leganes 14 1 3 10 8 24 6
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