La Liga Week 36 Review 1/2

Atletico Madrid moved clear of Sevilla in third place and Sporting Gijon took the fight for survival down to the wire with victory over Las Palmas in Week 36.

Sevilla 1-1 Real Sociedad

Sevilla all-but-handed third place to Atletico Madrid as their 10 men could only draw 1-1 with Real Sociedad on Friday.

Clement Lenglet was lucky not to be sent off in just the fourth minute after he took down Carlos Vela as the last man in Sevilla’s defence.

Sergio Escudero unleashed a piledriver inches over on the half-volley, but Pablo Sarabia made no mistake, clipping over Gero Rulli from Wissam Ben Yedder’s slid through ball.

However, Vela came back to haunt the Andalusians as Steven N’Zonzi’s deflection teed up the Mexican for an angled strike from a couple of yards out.

David Zurutuza knocked down Vitolo for a second yellow, while Sarabia was also booked, ruling him out of next weekend’s trip to Real Madrid. 

Sporting Gijon 1-0 Las Palmas

Sporting Gijon leaped to within three points of survival in La Liga after a 1-0 win against Las Palmas on Saturday.

Both sides had half-chances, until Jonathan Viera had the clearest, the midfielder’s shot batted away by Ivan Cuellar at the goalkeeper’s near post.

Carlos Carmona was brought on by Sporting for the second half, and his entrance proved inspiring as the ball ricocheted nicely for the attacker to smack home.

Viera tried to force an equaliser when he blasted a shot at Cuellar’s goal from distance, but it ended up flying inches over.

The Asturians’ superior head-to-head record against Leganes means they can leave the relegation places next weekend, providing they beat Eibar and their rivals lose to Athletic Bilbao.

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Eibar

Atletico Madrid lie just a point away from another third-place finish after a narrow 1-0 victory over Eibar on Saturday.

The result didn’t come easy as Jan Oblak needed to be on his toes to push away Takashi Inui’s early strike from close range.

Yannick Carrasco was soon denied from similar distance by Yoel Rodriguez, before Saul Niguez blazed over a free shot in the Basques’ box.

More chances went to waste as Pedro Leon curled just over Oblak’s goal from the Atleti D, while a one-two resulted in Filipe Luis sliding straight at Yoel.

Nonetheless, Saul made amends for his earlier miss by slamming a shot into Yoel’s bottom-left corner.

Los Colchoneros did lose Diego Godin to a second yellow card for dissent, but the home fans stayed behind to rally their team for Wednesday’s do-or-die Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.

La Liga - Club News