Madrid (AFP)
Real Madrid achieved a second consecutive “Remontada” when it turned the tables on its host Las Palmas and achieved a valuable 2-1 victory in the twenty-second stage of the Spanish Football Championship.
Las Palmas was the first to score through Javier Muñoz (53), and the Royal Club responded with two goals from the Brazilian Vinicius Junior (65) and the French “substitute” Aurelien Chouamini (84).
Real Madrid turned the tables on its guest, Almeria, in the last stage, after turning a two-touchdown deficit into a 3-2 victory.
It is the fifth consecutive victory for Real Madrid and the seventeenth in the league this season, raising its score to 54 points.
The Royal Club's victory came at an appropriate time, as it is facing two hot summits against its guests, Atletico Madrid and Girona, on the fourth and tenth of next month, and before that is its postponed match from the twentieth stage against its neighbor and host, Getafe, next Thursday.
Real played the match in the absence of its top scorer, Englishman Jude Bellingham, due to suspension, and Brahim Diaz took his place, while Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti preferred to keep Frenchman Ferlan Mendy and Uruguayan Federico Valverde on the bench in favor of Fran Garcia and Dani Ceballos.
Barcelona, the defending champion, suffered a humiliating loss against its guest, Villarreal, 3-5, in an exciting match during which it overturned a two-goal deficit and advanced 3-2, before conceding three goals, and suffering its third loss in La Liga this season.
It is the second loss in a row for Barcelona, after falling to Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals of the King's Cup 2-4 after extra time, and leaving empty-handed from the second competition this season, after the Super Cup in which it suffered a humiliating loss in its final match against its traditional rival Real Madrid 1-4.
Xavi announced in a press conference after the match that he would leave his position next June. The coach, whose contract with the Catalan club expires in 2025, said: “On June 30, I will leave the club. It is a decision I made with President Joan Laporta and with the technical staff.”
He told the Dazon network: “I understand that the players say they are responsible, but I am responsible. We have to change the dynamic, because our results make the league very difficult for us,” adding, “It is a strong blow. The team’s morale is very low, but the club has come out of worse situations.”
Xavi protested against the VAR's cancellation of a penalty kick awarded by the match referee, following a handball on defender Santi Comisana, and said in front of a television camera that it was a “disgrace.”
This is the first victory for Villarreal in its last five matches in all competitions, and the first for its coach Marcelino over Barcelona in 21 matches.
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