Zinedine Zidane’s Real charges will be heading to Catalonia full of confidence having made it into the final of the Champions League, and will now be hoping to prevent Barca going the entire La Liga season unbeaten.
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The Catalan giants entered the match knowing that a point would be enough to seal the title, but claimed all three in La Coruna to move 11 points ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid with a game in hand
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that notable among others left out of the squad were captain Sergio Ramos and top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo
The Italian coach was sacked following Sevilla’s 2-1 defeat to Levante on Friday, leaving the club 7th in the table
The club announced last Friday that Wenger will step down in the summer after over 21 years at the helm – with the Frenchman also confirming he intends to continue working following his exit
With the Europa League semi-final first leg match at Arsenal on Thursday in mind, Simeone rotated key players and Betis tried to take advantage
Ronaldo has been rested for four of Real’s last five away games in La Liga in order to stay sharp for their Champions League games, missing their trips to Leganes, Espanyol and their last outing against Las Palmas
The former France midfielder spoke ahead of their 2017/2018 Champions League quarter-final second leg against Juventus on Wednesda
Atletico actually had the ball in the back of the Real Madrid net in the 19th minute, but Diego Costa was adjudged to have felled Sergio Ramos in the build-up, before Oblak did well to keep out a Ronaldo strike down the other end.
By the victory, the Catalan side have matched Real Sociedad’s unbeaten run between 1979 and 1980
They are also in the King’s Cup final and looking strong in the Champions League, where they face AS Roma on Wednesday in a quarter-final first leg clash, as they look to capture all three major trophies once again.
Barca, who played an hour without the benched Messi, could see their lead at the top of the table reduced to nine points if Atletico Madrid beat relegation-threatened Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday night
However, Sociedad currently sit in 15th position in the standings after recording just nine wins from 29 fixtures this season and it has led to the club opting to make a change in the dugout.
The results gave the Catalans an 11-point lead at the top of the standings
Real now sit just four points behind Atletico in the standings, while Eibar remain in eighth despite a valiant effort against the defending champions
Messi had been expected to feature in Ernesto Valverde’s starting lineup with Barca looking to extend their unbeaten record in La Liga to 28 matches
Atletico entered the match having won their last matches in all competitions, and a victory for the visitors would have moved them to within two points of the leaders after 27 matches of the 2017-18 campaign
Ernesto Valverde’s side are unbeaten in their 26 league games this season but though victory against their closest challengers would leave them eight points clear at the top, the Spaniard insists the showdown will not decide the title
The result has allowed Zinedine Zidane’s side to move to within seven points of second-placed Atletico Madrid in the table, while Getafe stay down in 10th position
On the back of a superb 2016-17 campaign at Swiss outfit, Austria Wien, Kayode signed a four-year contract with City, but was immediately shipped out on loan to Spanish La Liga side Girona