Atletico Madrid Saturday kept pace with Barcelona
atop the Spanish Liga with a 1-0 derby win at neighbours Real, on a
goal from Brazilian striker Diego Costa.
It was Atletico's first league defeat of Real since 1999 and
confirmed their best ever start to a season, with seven wins out of
seven.
Earlier, Barca had scored their own seventh win, 2-0 at lowly
Almeria.
Atletico were determined to repeat their May cup final triumph
against Real in the Estadio Bernabeu, and made an aggressive start.
The only goal came in the 12th minute, when Costa calmly beat Real
keeper Diego Lopez after being played through by man-of-the-match
Koke.
Tiago came close to increasing Atletico's lead, with Real looking
uninspired and short on ideas.
Real dominated the second half, with Atletico content to soak up
the pressure and play on the break. Costa should have made it 2-0 but
was foiled by Lopez, then Koke hit the Real crossbar with an elegant
shot.
Real brought on record signing Gareth Bale but still could not
break down a resolute Atletico defence.
The whites are now five points behind Atletico and Barcelona.
Barca had few problems in Almeria, despite Lionel Messi limping
off with a pulled right hamstring shortly after scoring the first
goal.
It is a similar injury to the one that plagued him throughout last
spring.
He had broken the deadlock in the 21st minute with yet another of
his left-foot drives, after taking a clever short pass from Pedro. It
was Messi's eight goal and leaves him one ahead of Atletico's Diego
Costa in the scorers' chart.
Adriano made it 2-0 from close range after a precise move down the
left between Xavi and Cesc Fabregas. Barca then lifted their foot off
the pedal and took it easy until the end.
"I was pleased to score today, at just the moment when the game
was becoming dangerous for us," said Adriano.
"Let's hope that Messi's injury is nothing and that he can be with
us in the next few games, because he is a really important player for
us. With him, we are a different team."
Meanwhile, Barca coach Gerardo Martino said about Messi: "He has a
pulled muscle in his right leg but we will not know exactly what it
is until we do more tests.
"We are trying to control matches for 90 minutes. We were less
imprecise in the second half and Adriano's goal helped us to take
control."
Later Saturday, Real Sociedad and Sevilla played out an
interesting 1-1 draw.
Youngster Jairo gave Sevilla the lead in the 18th minute after
being set up by Ivan Rakitic, only for Antoine Griezmann to equalize
for the hosts in the 66th minute after good work down the right by
Carlos Vela.
The draw left Sociedad ninth and Sevilla 12th.
Earlier on, Valencia moved up to sixth with a 1-0 home defeat of
bottom team Rayo Vallecano.
In-form Brazilian striker Jonas scored the only goal in the 38th
minute, taking advantage of a serious blunder by Rayo defender Saul
Niguez.
Valencia are now sixth, level on 12 points with fifth-placed
Athletic Bilbao. Rayo, in contrast, are bottom with just three
atop the Spanish Liga with a 1-0 derby win at neighbours Real, on a
goal from Brazilian striker Diego Costa.
It was Atletico's first league defeat of Real since 1999 and
confirmed their best ever start to a season, with seven wins out of
seven.
Earlier, Barca had scored their own seventh win, 2-0 at lowly
Almeria.
Atletico were determined to repeat their May cup final triumph
against Real in the Estadio Bernabeu, and made an aggressive start.
The only goal came in the 12th minute, when Costa calmly beat Real
keeper Diego Lopez after being played through by man-of-the-match
Koke.
Tiago came close to increasing Atletico's lead, with Real looking
uninspired and short on ideas.
Real dominated the second half, with Atletico content to soak up
the pressure and play on the break. Costa should have made it 2-0 but
was foiled by Lopez, then Koke hit the Real crossbar with an elegant
shot.
Real brought on record signing Gareth Bale but still could not
break down a resolute Atletico defence.
The whites are now five points behind Atletico and Barcelona.
Barca had few problems in Almeria, despite Lionel Messi limping
off with a pulled right hamstring shortly after scoring the first
goal.
It is a similar injury to the one that plagued him throughout last
spring.
He had broken the deadlock in the 21st minute with yet another of
his left-foot drives, after taking a clever short pass from Pedro. It
was Messi's eight goal and leaves him one ahead of Atletico's Diego
Costa in the scorers' chart.
Adriano made it 2-0 from close range after a precise move down the
left between Xavi and Cesc Fabregas. Barca then lifted their foot off
the pedal and took it easy until the end.
"I was pleased to score today, at just the moment when the game
was becoming dangerous for us," said Adriano.
"Let's hope that Messi's injury is nothing and that he can be with
us in the next few games, because he is a really important player for
us. With him, we are a different team."
Meanwhile, Barca coach Gerardo Martino said about Messi: "He has a
pulled muscle in his right leg but we will not know exactly what it
is until we do more tests.
"We are trying to control matches for 90 minutes. We were less
imprecise in the second half and Adriano's goal helped us to take
control."
Later Saturday, Real Sociedad and Sevilla played out an
interesting 1-1 draw.
Youngster Jairo gave Sevilla the lead in the 18th minute after
being set up by Ivan Rakitic, only for Antoine Griezmann to equalize
for the hosts in the 66th minute after good work down the right by
Carlos Vela.
The draw left Sociedad ninth and Sevilla 12th.
Earlier on, Valencia moved up to sixth with a 1-0 home defeat of
bottom team Rayo Vallecano.
In-form Brazilian striker Jonas scored the only goal in the 38th
minute, taking advantage of a serious blunder by Rayo defender Saul
Niguez.
Valencia are now sixth, level on 12 points with fifth-placed
Athletic Bilbao. Rayo, in contrast, are bottom with just three
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