Real Madrid, the leaders of the Spanish Football League, returned to victories and swept its counterpart Valencia 4-1 in the twentieth stage, on Saturday, thanks to the attacking duo of the French “explosive” Karim Benzema and the Brazilian Vinicius Junior, in a stage where Barcelona stumbled dramatically after Granada scored a 1-1 equalizer. 1 minute before the end of the original time.
And the Royal Club, which lost to Getafe in the previous stage 0-1, consolidated its position at the top of the standings with 49 points, eight points ahead of Seville, who faces Getafe on Sunday, hoping to reduce the difference to five points again.
On the other hand, Valencia, who suffered its sixth loss this season, stuck at 28 points in ninth place.
Real’s goals were scored by Benzema, two goals (43 from a penalty kick and 88), and the return to the squad after recovering from the Corona virus, Vinicius Junior, scored two goals (52 and 61).
The French striker scored his 300 and then 301 goals in the Real Madrid shirt, becoming the fourth best scorer in the history of the royal club, only seven goals behind the Argentine legend of Real Madrid, Alfredo Di Stefano (308).
The Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, the former Real Madrid star and the current Manchester United, is the top scorer in the Spanish club with 351 goals, compared to 323 for Raul Gonzalez in second place.
Benzema opened the scoring for the hosts with a penalty kick after Brazilian Casemiro was blocked by Valencia’s French player Mokhtar Diakhaby (42), to return and double his lead after Vinicius Junior managed to dribble two Valencia players after exchanging the ball with Benzema before he shook the net with high skill (52).
The Brazilian international striker confirmed his brilliance with a second and third personal goal for his team after German Toni Kroos cut the ball in the middle of the field and sent it to Marco Asensio with a powerful shot that was blocked by Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, to be followed by Vinicius Junior with his head in the empty goal (61).
Valencia managed to reduce the difference after the referee awarded a penalty kick after a mistake from the French Ferland Mendy on Marcos Andre inside the area, the Portuguese Gonçalo Guedic and brilliantly blocked by Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, to be followed by Gudis with his head into the goal (76).
Mendy compensated for the mistake he made with a decisive pass inside the area to his compatriot Benzema and his back to the goal, so he controlled the ball with his left foot, turned and hit the floor in the “bat” net (88).
Granada imposed a 1-1 draw on its imperfect guest, Barcelona, depriving it of its third successive victory in all competitions.
The Catalan team was on its way to collecting the three points before the Andalusian club managed to deal a severe blow to the Blaugrana fans with a equalizer through Antonio Puertas (89), after Dutchman Luke de Jong gave the lead to coach Xavi Hernandez’s men (57).
The Catalan club played with a deficit since the 79th minute, after its player Gavi was sent off after receiving two yellow cards.
Barcelona fell to sixth place with 32 points, while Granada occupies 12th place with 24 points.
The visiting team was Yemeni in exit with the three points, but the owners of the land violated expectations after continuous pressure following Barcelona’s first goal, offset by Barcelona’s retreat after Gavi was sent off, which resulted in a thunderous goal a minute before the end of the original time after a corner kick that did not improve Barcelona’s defense much in Dimensions, she reached Puertas on the outskirts of the goal to hit a powerful shot in the upper corner.
“We needed to be patient, keep the ball and play in the opposing team’s half, but we lost the balls absurdly. We made mistakes,” Xavi said after the match.
“Before the red card, we had to kill the match. It should have been 2-0. We have to criticize ourselves and improve,” Xavi said, speaking of Gavi’s sending-off.
The former Barcelona midfielder said he was upset by the loss of “two important points”, noting that Gavi’s expulsion “changed the match” without losing sight of the team’s mismanagement of the second half.
The Brazilian Alves played his first match with Barcelona in “La Liga”, six years after his departure, knowing that he played his first official match on his second stop with the Catalan team during the cup match that he won against Linares from the third degree 2-1 in the 32nd round during the middle of the week .
Barcelona missed some players due to infection or infection with the Corona virus, most notably Dutchman Frankie de Jong and Serge Roberto, in addition to newcomer from Manchester City Ferran Torres.
After the first half ended in a goalless tie, which also saw De Jong’s goal canceled due to offside in the ninth minute, Barcelona managed to open the scoring 12 minutes after the start of the second half after De Jong’s cross headed into the net of Portuguese goalkeeper Luis Maximiano (57).
With Gavi sent off, the hosts pressed hard and managed to snatch a valuable point while they were on the verge of collecting the three points in the last moments after a slip from German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but the latter managed to save the situation by blocking a falling ball from Spain’s Angel Montoro (90+). 4).
Barcelona suffered a setback by injuring its central defender Eric Garcia with a tear in his right thigh to leave the field in the 53rd minute, leaving his place for Frenchman Clement Langley.
And Real Sociedad put an end to a series of six matches without a victory, after defeating its guest, Celta Vigo, 1-0.
Sociedad managed to stop the bleeding of points after six games in which it did not win any, compared to two draws and four defeats, to fall to seventh place after it was the leader of “La Liga” at the beginning of the season.
Sociedad moved to fourth place temporarily with 33 points. Celta Vigo is 12th with 23 points.
At the “Anoeta” stadium, midfielder Mikel Oyarsabal scored the only goal of the match (13) to give the hosts the three points.
Oyarsabal’s goal came early after a left-footed shot from inside the area after a counterattack (13).
The stage opened on Saturday, with Levante winning over Real Mallorca 2-0.
Levante scored two goals, Roberto Soldado (47) and Jose Luis Morales (90 +7) in a match where Mallorca missed a penalty kick by Brian Olivan (69), and then canceled a goal for the guests by Fernando Ninho (82).
He was also expelled by Levante player Jose Campania (83).
The victory gave Levante, bottom of the table, some hope, after raising its score to 11 points, five points behind the safety zone, while Mallorca occupies 15th place with 20 points.