Steven Petrov
The Paw Print
This loss put the team from Madrid further away from the 1st place in La Liga
The team from Pamplona won their home game against one of the three main contenders for the Spanish Primera Division’s title, Athletico Madrid. A potential victory against CA Osasuna would have put Athletico right at the top of the table with their all time rivals, C.F. Real Madrid, considering the fact that ”Real” were and still are 3 points ahead of Barcelona and Athletico, after winning their game against Elche on Saturday with 3:0. However the game started and ended really badly for the team from Madrid. The home team came out much more concentrated and focused, managing to score an early goal in the 6th minute by Alvaro Cejudo. Emiliano Armenteros doubled CA Osasuna’s lead in the 21st minute after an exceptional long-distance shot from outside of the 18-yard box. Roberto Torres, the other forward in Osasuna’s squad, brought up the complete disappointment for the team led by Diego Simone, in the 41st minute, creating the final score of 3:0. The expectations that Athletico would be able to come back stronger in the second half and turn the game around, were not fulfilled and the “triple strike” that the team from the capital suffered during the first half, was enough to keep them behind and make them lose the incredibly important 3 points that they needed out of this weekend’s matchup. “Los Colchoneros” (Athletico) kept playing unorganized throughout the second half. Even though they were able to accumulate some chances in front of their opponents’ goal, they were unable to score. This past weekend and results may turn out to be a key moment in the season for all of the three contenders in La Liga. While Real Madrid managed to easily win their home game against Elche on Saturday, Barcelona dropped points against Real Sociedad, and Athletico followed their example by losing on Sunday.
The situation doesn’t look good for either of Real Madrid’s direct competitors for the title because “los blancos” managed to deliver a solid performance and great results for three consecutive games, without the world’s best player Cristiano Ronaldo, who was out due to a red card penalty he was given 3 games ago. However, Real Madrid’s superstar is ready to go and he will be playing in the next week’s derby against Athletico Madrid. The reason why I say that the situation doesn’t look good for Barca and Athletico is because, when a player like Ronaldo who averages more than a goal a game hasn’t played in 3 games, he has such an exceptional desire to come back strong and make up these games not scoring, that I would not be surprised if he scores a hat-trick next weekend, securing Real Madrid’s 1st place.
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