Atletico Madrid took control of La Liga alone on Saturday evening. After the unexpected defeat of their neighbors and rivals from Real Madrid on the Betis Seville lawn (2-1), the Colchoneros put pressure on FC Barcelona. The Catalans, who only play on Sunday against Real Sociedad, saw Diego Simeone's men win a short head (1-0) against Athletic Bilbao. Atletico suddenly takes two points ahead of Real and Barça, while waiting for the closure of this 26th day of the championship.
After the exit of the Antoine Griezmann-Alexander Sorloth tandem around the time of play, the spaces began to open for Madrilenians. And as often lately, it was Julian Alvarez, launched by Marcos Llorente, who deceived Unai Simon from a cross strike from the left (1-0, 66th) a few minutes after replacing the Norwegian.
Three days before the shock against Real
The Argentinian world champion, who arrived last summer from Manchester City, also made the nets tremble during the thriller in the Cup against Barça (4-4) and on a double a few days earlier in Valence (0-3). This is his 10th Liga goal this season and his 21st all competitions combined.
In three days, Antoine Griezmann and his comrades will be in Santiago Bernabeu for the first leg of the knockout stages of the Champions League.
