La Laiga: Llorente snatches Atletico late draw at rivals Real Madrid
Marcos Llorente headed home in the 93rd minute to snatch Atletico Madrid a 1-1 draw at LaLiga leaders and bitter rivals Real Madrid on Sunday.
The Spain midfielder rescued Atletico a point to keep their faint title hopes alive and stop Los Blancos opening up a wider lead on second-placed Girona.
Brahim Diaz, who replaced the hurt Vinicius Junior at late notice before the game, opened the scoring for Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Catalan minnows Girona visit Real Madrid next weekend in a crunch title showdown made even juicier by Llorente’s vital contribution.
This was the third of three hotly-competed Madrid derby clashes in under a month.
Real Madrid won the first, beating Atletico on the way to winning the Spanish Super Cup, while Diego Simeone’s side ousted Los Blancos from the Copa del Rey a week later.
Atletico, who also beat Madrid in LaLiga in September, are the only team to defeat them this season in any competition, but could not complete their hat-trick.
Llorente’s leveller means Madrid are two points clear of Girona, who drew against Real Sociedad on Saturday, and 10 points above Atletico.
Spain’s surprise packages Girona were held to a goalless draw at home by Real Sociedad on Saturday, leaving them a point behind LaLiga leaders Real Madrid.
The Catalans are second on 56 points behind Real, who host city rivals Atletico on Sunday. Sociedad are on 37 points in sixth place, the last European qualifying spot.
Girona thought they had taken the lead after 24 minutes but VAR intervened to overturn Yangel Herrera’s header for offside and Sociedad had Mikel Oyarzabal’s effort overruled, also for offside.
The visitors looked more dangerous after the break as Brais Mendez drew a great save from Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga in the 72nd minute.
The home side, whose manager Michel was sent off in the second half, almost sealed a late victory through a great effort from Herrera which keeper Alex Remiro saved with his feet.
