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Atletico Madrid came within a whisker of their first league win over Barcelona in eight years on Saturday only for Ousmane Dembele to dash their hopes with a dramatic equaliser in injury-time. Diego Costa looked to have won a dreary contest at the Wanda Metropolitano when he headed in his first La Liga goal since February with 12 minutes left, as Atletico prepared to go top of the table with a long-awaited victory. Instead, Barca produced another fightback as Dembele, on as a substitute, slid home a cool finish in the 90th minute to earn the visitors a 1-1 draw. The relief was palpable in the celebrations of the luminous yellow shirts in the corner but perhaps just as grateful were Real Madrid, beaten 3-0 by Eibar earlier in the day. Santiago Solari had proven the perfect caretaker but his debut as permanent coach ended in a disastrous, and deserved, defeat at Ipurua. Madrid's only consolation was that neither Atletico nor Barca were able to secure the win that would ...

Santiago Solari on Tuesday was confirmed as Real Madrid coach until 2021 following his successful spell in charge as caretaker boss of the European champions. "Real Madrid's board of directors met today and decided to name Santiago Solari as first team coach until June 30, 2021," the club announced in a statement. Solari's anointment as sacked Julen Lopetegui's permanent successor comes after wins in his first four matches. And with 15 goals scored and only two conceded the 42-year-old Argentinian has established the best ever start for a Real manager. After thrashing Melilla in the Copa del Rey, they won 5-0 away to Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League, between victories over Real Valladolid and Celta Vigo in La Liga. The upturn has left Madrid only four points adrift of league leaders Barcelona and on the brink of qualification for the last 16 in Europe. Solari was handed the reins on a temporary two-week basis on October 29 after Lopetegui had o...

Real Madrid´s interim coach Santiago Solari said "Bale is fantastic", but still took him off in the 71st minute against Real Valladolid on Saturday. Madrid were drifting towards a 0-0 draw at their Santiago Bernabeu home and, searching for inspiration, it was Bale´s number 11 that came up. He departed to whistles from the fans even if Solari, perhaps deliberately, spared him being being replaced directly by Vinicius Junior. Nevertheless, the 18-year-old came on two minutes later and made the difference, his shot deflecting in to give Madrid the lead. "Another day, Gareth will score," Solari said. "And everyone will celebrate." But those quickest to criticise Bale are circling again ahead of the trip to Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League on Wednesday. Support for Vinicius has been intense and Bale is seen as the one standing in the way. "Vinicius puts Bale in trouble," read the frontpage of AS on Monday. One week into his sti...

Sevilla failed to capitalise on a weekend of slip-ups for La Liga's chasing pack when they were held to a goalless draw away to Real Sociedad on Sunday, opening up a four-point gap behind leaders and champions Barcelona. Sevilla had the chance to go clear in second place and close the deficit with Barca to two points but they came unstuck in a game of scant chances, badly missing injured strikers Wissam Ben Yedder and Andre Silva who have been responsible for 12 of the team's 22 league goals this season. Their best opportunity fell to veteran winger Jesus Navas who hit the side netting early in the second half, while former Sevilla forward Sandro Ramirez missed the home side's best chance, slipping and firing wide when he was clean through. Sevilla are second in the standings, locked on 20 points with Atletico Madrid, held to a 1-1 draw at Leganes on Saturday, and Alaves, who were beaten 2-1 at Basque neighbours Eibar with a stoppage-time header from Pape Diop. B...

Barcelona have included Lionel Messi in their squad for Tuesday night's Champions League clash at Inter Milan. The Argentine has been on the sidelines since fracturing his right arm in the 4-2 victory over Sevilla on October 20. Messi, 30, has subsequently missed four matches, including last week's 5-1 clasico thrashing of Real Madrid. Ernesto Valverde's side have won all four games without the Argentine and defeated Rayo Vallecano 3-2 on Saturday night, with Luis Suarez scoring twice. Now Messi could return at San Siro, after being included in a 22-man squad. However, Barcelona have conceded that the five-time Ballon d'Or winner will travel "without [the] medical all-clear". Messi returned to training this week and Ernesto Valverde admitted after the win over Rayo that he could return against Inter. "I think we all play better with Messi in the side," Valverde told reporters. "We will see how he is in training [on Sunday] w...

Barcelona had Luis Suarez to thank for salvation after being stunned by a Rato Vallecano as comeback at the Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas. Atletico Madrid failure to win at Leganes   earlier on Saturday looked to have provided Barca with the perfect chance to extend their lead at the top of La liga , and after Luis Suarez fire them ahead inside 11 minutes, it looked like an opportunity they were destined to take. But Vallecano levelled the match on 35 minutes with a wonderful strike from Jose Pozo, before Alvaro Garcia put the hosts ahead in the second half. With the 90minutes almost up, it looked as though Barcelona were set to return from their El Clasico victory with a bump. But Ousmane Dembele popped up to level proceedings, before Suarez – the hero against Real Madrid – scored the winner in stoppage time.

After easing to victory over minnows Melilla in a midweek Copa del Rey clash, Solari was handed a far sterner test against one of La Liga’s surprise packages this season in Valladolid. Los Blancos needed a large slice of luck to break the deadlock with Vinicius Jnr’s strike taking a wicked defection off Kiko Olivas to take it past the goalkeeper after 83 minutes. Sergio Ramos eased some nerves with a Panenka penalty a few minutes from full-time after Karim Benzema was brought down in the box. Real had scored just 12 times in the league prior to kick-off - the worst return in the top seven with the club also enduring their worst goal drought in history this term. Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema’s frustrations continued with Solari turning to 18-year-old Vinicius in the second-half having handed him his full debut during the week. The Brazilian offered his side some menace in attack, cutting in from the right before shooting for goal but his effort needed a big deflecti...

Atletico Madrid dropped points in LaLiga on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Leganes. Guido Carrillo's late equaliser prevented Atletico Madrid from going top of LaLiga as Leganes held their underwhelming visitors to a 1-1 draw on Saturday. Diego Simeone was missing Diego Godin, Koke and Diego Costa due to muscular problems for the short trip to Butarque, and without them their performance was disappointing and Carrillo pegged them back late on. In an unremarkable first period, Leganes looked the slightly more promising and did at least go close on a couple of occasions, though quality was lacking from both sides. Atletico improved slightly after the break and eventually went ahead through Antoine Griezmann's free-kick, but substitute Carrillo secured the strugglers a deserved point eight minutes from time with his third goal of the season. After a tight opening Leganes should have taken the lead 21 minutes in, but Youssef En-Nesyri headed a c...