At the start of the European knockout rounds, La Liga can get pretty strange. It’s always a shock when Real Madrid lose, or when Barcelona play poorly. It’s not that strange when Atletico win, but with all three of these things happening in one weekend, everyone knows where we have to start.
A Strange Set of Results
Real Madrid 1-2 Girona
Real Madrid went into this weekend’s fixture at home to Girona looking to continue their streak of strong performances. They had won seven and drawn once in their last eight games and were coming off a strong performance against Ajax in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie. With Girona not winning at all since December 5th, it was all set for another strong Madrid performance.
There was plenty of rotation from Santi Solari – their run of fixtures necessitated it. It meant that Vinicius, Dani Carvajal and Luka Modric were all left out. The argument could be made they have been Madrid’s three best players, and this game is a prime example of that. Madrid failed to have that creative spark, failed to create the type of chances that they need to finish off this game.
Still, after 45 minutes, they had the lead and were in control. After 15 minutes of the second half that was still true. Then, this game entered the Sergio Ramos Zone. Ramos had been on a really good run of form but, after admitting to getting a deliberate yellow card against Ajax, the 33-year-old captain was at it again.
It started with a 65th-minute handball in the box, a clear penalty with Cristhian Stuani dispatched to equalize. Then, after Girona had taken the lead through a lovely goal from Portu, Ramos got himself sent off for an attempted overhead kick, which hit a Girona player in the chest. The first yellow meant he was suspended for next weekend’s La Liga game, the red means he should miss one of the two Clasicos in two weeks.
Takeaways
Make no mistake about it, Girona deserved this result. They weathered the storm for 60 minutes and then wrestled control away from Real Madrid. That’s a huge achievement for a side that haven’t won over two months. However, a strange performance like this will concern Madrid more.
They had been playing so well coming into this game. Their performance in Amsterdam was very strong; this was the opposite. They took their foot off of the gas and paid the price. The biggest takeaway from this weekend is that Barcelona now have a nine-point lead over Madrid, which effectively ends the title race for Real.
Even with Barcelona’s lacklustre performance on Saturday, it feels like nine points at this stage will be too much. The interesting angle is that both these sides, and Atletico Madrid, will be prioritizing the Champions League down the stretch. If Barca slip, the Madrid sides still might not have the horses to catch them.
Barcelona 1-0 Real Valladolid
Speaking of Barcelona, they took on Real Valladolid at the Camp Nou in preparation for their midweek trip to Lyon. It was one of the strangest games the Camp Nou has seen in some time. Barcelona were woeful, by far of their worst performances of the season. They could barely string a couple of passes together or get a shot on target and, when they did, ex-Barca keeper Jordi Masip was standing on his head.
The Catalan keeper made seven saves, including saving a penalty from Lionel Messi. Masip joined Barcelona at 15 and spent 13 years at the club, mostly as the third-string keeper, but he played all 42 games of Real Valladolid’s promotion effort last season and has played quite well since leaving Barcelona.
Bad Barca
Overshadowing Masip’s great performance was a terrible display from Barcelona. The movement of the ball and without the ball was poor. The passing lacked the required trust to break down a hard-working Valladolid side. In the first 35 minutes, Barcelona failed to create one real chance and, by half-time, they had only scored thanks to a questionable penalty.
Commentator Phil Schoen said it best – it was one of those fouls where you wish you could give the penalty and a yellow card for simulation at the same time. Gerard Pique was pulled back by Michel, but he certainly made the most of it. Lionel Messi then dispatched the only goal of the game. Certainly not the performance Barcelona wanted heading into the Champions League.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Somehow, Atletico Madrid managed to turn in an even worse performance than Barcelona and got the three points. They went away to relegation-threatened Rayo Vallecano in one of the more one-sided Madrid derbies. Atletico deserved none of those points as Rayo created more chances but once again Jan Oblak came up huge.
The Slovakian continues to prove he is the best keeper in the world. Atletico played classic Atletico in this game; defensive, rough and ugly. They were outshot 12-4, yet Antoine Griezmann got the only goal. If not for Oblak’s six saves they would have been in trouble.
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