Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Saturday he is happy with how new signing Kylian Mbappe is settling into life with the Spanish soccer giants and he has no concerns about his team's slow start to the LaLiga season.
Atletico Madrid have built a reputation for gargantuan achievements under coach Diego Simeone and have not given up hope of a remarkable turnaround against Real Madrid in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg.
Real moved to 57 points, two ahead Girona and 10 clear of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona.
Real Madrid have avoided defeat in their last 41 LaLiga games, the second best streak by a team in the competition's history.
Before Leicester enchanted the sporting world last year with their miraculous Premier League title win, Atletico had worked similar wonders in 2014 by breaking the strangehold of Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga.
Diego Costa scored four goals as Real Madrid were embarrassed 7-3 by rivals Atletico Madrid in the final match of their United States tour, in New Jersey, on Friday
Bayern Munich will be without winger Serge Gnabry for their Champions League group game against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday after he tested positive for COVID-19, the German champions said on Tuesday.
Images from La Liga matches played on Saturday.
A round of Saturday's matches in Series A, La Liga and Bundesliga.
Croatian forward Ante Budimir scored twice to help Osasuna earn a shock 4-2 home win over leaders Barcelona.
Despite striking a brace to help Atletico win Europa League title against Marseille, the French player has been heavily linked with a switch to Barcelona.
Barcelona trounced visitors Atletico Madrid 6-1 at the Nou Camp on Saturday to move into second place behind Villarreal in the Primera Liga. Villarreal have 16 points from six games after coming from behind to beat Real Betis 2-1 while Barca are on 13 after a scoring spree led by a double from Samuel Eto'o.
Real Madrid fought back from two goals down as Vinicius Jr grabbed a hat-trick in a thrilling 5-2 win over visitors Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Inter Milan escaped Etihad Stadium with a surprise 0-0 draw against Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak was the hero as the Spanish side reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the fourth year in a row after drawing 0-0 with Bayer Leverkusen in an open last-16 second leg.
A round-up of Friday's action in La Liga, and Bundesliga.
Goalkeeper Ivan Provedel scored in the dying moments of the Champions League Group E match against Atletico Madrid, heading home the equaliser, to earn Lazio a 1-1 draw at Stadio Olimpico, in Rome, on Tuesday.
'This crisis is going to be much bigger than anything we've experienced and anything we do will not be enough but my aim is to help, it might not be enough in some cases but I have to try'
Atletico Super Cup win vindicates decision to stay, says Griezmann
Atletico aim for Champions League revenge against Real at fourth attempt.
Griezmann, third in the 2016 Ballon d'Or behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, had been heavily linked to Europa League winners Manchester United in recent weeks.
Liverpool's Slot not nervous ahead of Anfield debut
The 21-year-old is the latest youngster to join Atletico who have also brought in Argentine forward Luciano Vietto from Villarreal since the end of last season.
Atletico Madrid got in the mood for Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final with Barcelona by thrashing Real Betis 5-1 on Saturday, their biggest win of the season. A classy finish from Fernando Torres and a fortuitous strike from Atletico's top scorer Antoine Griezmann gave the home side a 2-0 lead at halftime. Substitute Angel Correa then made a big impression in the second period, laying on the third goal for Juanfran and the fourth by Griezmann before Thomas Partey rounded off the scoring for the home team. Ruben Castro netted for Betis in the 79th minute when he pounced on a rare error from Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
IMAGES from an exciting Europa League semi-final first leg match played at Emirates Stadium on Thursday
When Griezmann fired Atletico to victory over Olympique de Marseille in the Europa League final in May it was widely viewed as his last stand for Diego Simeone's side before a move to Barca but they successfully convinced the Frenchman to stay.
After falling 2-0 down on the night, substitute Marcos Llorente struck twice in extra-time and Alvaro Morata added a late third to ensure a famous victory for Diego Simeone's side against a Liverpool team unbeaten in their last 25 home games in European competition.
Atletico Madrid have reached an agreement with Benfica to sign their Argentina midfielder Nicolas Gaitan for 25 million euros ($28.06 million), the La Liga club said on Thursday. The 28-year-old Gaitan, who is under contract at Benfica until June 2019, is currently with the Argentina squad competing at the Copa America. The deal is subject to a medical.
Atletico midfielder Saul Niguez, however, criticised his side for not showing enough ambition early in the game.
Spain manager Luis de la Fuente left Barcelona's 17-year-old defender Pau Cubarsi and midfielders Marcos Llorente and Aleix Garcia out of his 26-man squad
Vinicius Jr came off the bench to score once and set up another goal to steer champions Real Madrid to a 4-1 fightback victory over Espanyol.
It was Messi's 30th goal in 39 competitive games against Atletico
Fernando Torres's head injury shocked his Atletico Madrid team mates as the striker had to be carried off on a stretcher towards the end of Thursday's 1-1 draw at Deportivo La Coruna.
First meets second as Barcelona host Atletico Madrid on Saturday looking to tighten their grip on the La Liga title race. The sides are level on 48 points at the top of the table, but Barca have a game in hand on Atletico and can take a huge step towards a fifth title in seven years with an eighth consecutive win in all competitions. Indeed, Luis Enrique's men remain on course for a repeat of the treble of La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey they won last season after progressing to the semi-finals of the Cup with a come from behind 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao in midweek. Yet, the European champions have been far from their best in the past week as they were outplayed by Malaga and Bilbao in the first-half before being salvaged by individual moments of magic after the break. "We are aware of the errors we need to correct," said Luis Suarez after taking his tally for the season already to 30 with the equalizer against Bilbao.
Atletico Madrid's faint hopes of chasing down runaway Liga leaders Barcelona suffered a fresh blow on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Girona, meaning they could fall 11 points behind the Catalans by the end of the weekend.
Atletico Madrid's problems deepened as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Villarreal in La Liga on Friday, stretching their winless run to four games in all competitions.
Spanish prosecutors have won a series of cases against high profile footballers and coaches for tax fraud in recent years, including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.
In the dying minutes of their Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid, a thunderstorm rolled in and drenched Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon stadium.
Atletico Madrid crashed out of the Copa del Rey to Girona on Wednesday following a highly entertaining 3-3 draw at home to the Catalan side, who sneaked through to the quarter-finals on away goals after the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate.
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