La Liga Wrap, matchday 37: Madrid maintains pressure on resilient Athleti

Athletico Madrid and Real Madrid are still at loggerheads for the 2020-21 La Liga Santander title as 10 games were decided simultaneously in the penultimate round of the campaign.
Athleti had to come from behind and dig deep to record a 2-1 win against Osasuna at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
Ante Budimir put the visitors ahead in the 75th minute but goals from Renan Lodi and Luis Suárez in the 82nd and 88th minute respectively made their gaffer Diego Simeone understandably pleased.
“When we had fewer goalscoring opportunities, we were clinical and when we had more we were less clinical,” Cholo said after the game.
“When we had a drinks break I said that what we had to do was equalise because then we would win the match. The goal arrived soon after and then Luis Suarez’s finish, that of a great player.
“Suarez has been away from the goals, but he was always there. He gives us great status and who better than him to decide a match?”
“The changes worked very well for us. Everyone gave us freshness and they came in very well. It was a great pass from Joao Felix to Renan Lodi and we scored two very beautiful goals.
“More than ever we must take it game by game to play at Real Valladolid, where we will have the same difficulty as in all La Liga matches. We are only thinking about preparing well for the week ahead, recovering for a final and then playing in Valladolid with the difficulties that LaLiga offers.”
“We choose this profession trying to do the best that we can to arrive in these moments. Then it is the turn of some to win and others to lose, but we do it with the same passion as others.
“You have to prepare in the best way, the key is to stay strong.”
Simeone’s men remain at the summit of the standings after amassing 83 points, two points ahead of their bitter rivals, Real Madrid who are still in hot pursuit.
Los Blancos recorded a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao thanks to Nacho Fernández’s 68th minute goal.
Real saw out the game eventually after Bilbao’s Raúl Garcia was sent off in the dying stages of the game much to the delight of their gaffer Zinedine Zidane who says they will fight till the end.
“Thanks for congratulating me on the win because that’s what we’re interested in: three points today,” Zidane said in his post-match press conference.
“We’re still in the title fight and we’re going to give our all until the final minute. I’m happy with our performance, a very good game, we’re still alive and we’re going to fight until the end. We knew it was going to be this way”.
“It’s been very difficult but we’re still in the fight. Real Madrid have lost two league titles on the last day and we’re going to try to win this one in the last minute. We’re going to give our all to win this league title.”
FC Barcelona’s title hopes are over after they suffered a 1-2 loss at the Nou Camp against Celta Vigo.
Lionel Messi netted the opener on 28 minutes but Santi Mina’s brace condemned the Catalan giants to yet another slip, first an equaliser on 38 minutes and the winner coming a minute from time.
Clement Lenglet’s red card compounded Barça’s woesand left their manager, Ronald Koeman frustrated.
“If we speak about the first half, it is a reflection of what has happened to us in more than one game,” Koeman told the media after the game.
“We played well and with opportunities and they have one attack and you head into the dressing room at 1-1 and this is very hard mentally.
“The second half wasn’t so good and in the end, it was 2-1 to them and this always happens in moments when you don’t have that luck.”
Seventh placed Villarreal comfortably dispatched fourth placed Sevilla 4-0 thanks to Carlos Bacca’s hat-trick.
Bacca netted on 34, 47 and 79 minutes and Gerard Moreno completed the rout with a goal six minutes after the hour mark.
Fifth placed Real Sociedad defeated Real Valladolid 4-1 as Alexander Isak netted a 10-minute brace.
Isak was on target on six and 16 minutes and first half goals from David Silva and Adnan Januzaj made Marcos Dr Sousa’s goal for Valladolid a mere consolation.
Sociedad have amassed 59 points following the win and the opponents remain in danger of getting relegated as they sit 19th after amassing 31 points.
Borja Iglesias’ penalty on 57 minutes was enough to help Real Betis to a 1-0 triumph against SD Huesca.
Betis are sixth on the log with 58 points and relegation threatened Huesca who are 17th have amassed 33 points, level with the team below them in the drop zone.
15th placed Deportivo Alaves defeated 10th placed Granada 4-2 in a six-goal thriller.
Pedro Pons, Rubén Duarte, Joselu and Luis Rioja were all on target for Alaves while Jorge Molina and Antonio Puertas netted for Granada.
Elche CF boosted their hopes of survival after their 3-1 victory over Cádiz.
Pere Milla, Diego Gonzalez and Fidel netted in the 58th, 64th and 88th minute as they came from behind to cancel out José Mari’s 15th minute penalty.
Elche are still 18th but level on points with 17th placed Huesca while Cádiz are 12th with 43 points following the loss.
13th placed Valencia CF beat bottom club Eibar 4-1 at the Mestalla Stadium.
Gonçala Guedes and Carlos Soler netted respective braces to condemn Eibar to 20th place on the log with 30 points, three points behind the safe zone.
Goals from Carles Aleñá and Takefusa Kubo helped Getafe overpower Levante 2-1.
Following the win, they are 16th on the log after garnering 37 points while their opponents who got their goal through Gonzalo Melero at the half hour are 14th with 40 points.
ResultsDeportivo Alaves 4 – 2 GranadaReal Betis 1 – 0 HuescaReal Sociedad 4 – 1 Real ValladolidAthletico Madrid 2 – 1 OsasunaVillarreal 4 – 0 SevillaCádiz 1 – 3 ElcheFC Barcelona 1 – 2 Celta VigoValencia 4 – 1 EibarAthletic Bilbao 0 – 1 Real MadridGetafe 2 – 1 Levante