La Liga: Real Madrid fail to take advantage of Barcelona’s draw

Madrid, September 30: Real Madrid were held at home by city rivals Atletico Madrid in an entertaining 0-0 draw, while Munir El Haddadi rescued a point for Barcelona in 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Saturday (September 29).

Results | Points Table

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona were looking to bounce back from midweek defeats to Sevilla and Leganes respectively. It was the first tim since January 2015 that the two sides lost on the same day in La Liga.

Goalkeepers Thibaut Courtois and Jan Oblak were the stand outs in Santiago Bernabeau with the Belgian making two exceptional saves to frustrate Atletico strikers Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa in the first half, while the Slovenian also made two outstanding saves as Real failed to capitalize on Barcelona's early slip-up.

🏁 FT: @realmadrid 0-0 @Atleti #Emirates | #RMDerbi pic.twitter.com/uFv35F9vPm

— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) September 29, 2018

Gareth Bale, who was forced off at halftime with a suspected groin problem had come close to scoring for Real, who looked better after the break and almost snatched a winner in stoppage time when captain Sergio Ramos headed narrowly wide from a corner.

Oblak helped Atletico ward off Real's attacks, denying Marco Asensio at point-blank range and later turning away a stinging shot from Dani Carvajal from inside the area.

Real have now failed to beat Atletico at home in the league in their last six attempts, with their last victory coming in December 2012 when Jose Mourinho was in charge.

The results meant, Real are joint top of La Liga, locked on 14 points with Barcelona, who have a slightly better goal difference despite being held by Bilbao. Atletico on 12 points, meanwhile, dropped down to fourth with Sevilla climbing to third with 13 points after winning 3-1 at Eibar.

The game at Eibar had to be stopped for several minutes after a barrier collapsed and the incident left Sevilla supporters spilling on to the pitch and eight people were taken to hospital with injuries.

Earlier, Valencia finally won for the first time this season by beating Real Sociedad 1-0 away from home.

⏰ All over at Camp Nou.
FC Barcelona 1-1 Athletic Club
⚽ Munir / De Marcos
🔵🔴 #BarçaAthletic #ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/LS0qzL1PG4

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 29, 2018

Barca were saved their blushes by substitute El Haddadi who equalised in the 84th minute, meeting a cross by Messi who also came off the bench, along with Busquets, in the second half as Barca chased the game. Oscar de Marcos had given Athletic a deserved lead in the 41st minute with a volley to pick up a point at the Nou Camp for the first time since 2004.

(With inputs from Agencies)