Real Madrid, leaders of La Liga, suffered their first defeat for three months on Sunday in Getafe (1-0) for the 19th day, while Atlético Madrid defeated Rayo Vallecano (2-0) and the Barça dominated Mallorca (0-1). For Carlo Ancelotti's men, it's the end of an unbeaten streak of 15 matches in three months, during which they recorded 13 wins and 2 draws. "We stayed on vacation one more day," summed up "Carletto" on Sunday at a post-match press conference. This loss may not be the only bad news for Ancelotti: Rodrygo, who was hit in the left shoulder during a crash early in the second period, was replaced in the 67th minute by Mariano. Despite this setback, do not panic for the Madrilenians: Real Madrid still have 15 pointsahead of Barça (5th, 31 pts but one game less), which won 1-0 in Mallorca in the evening.
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Correa relaunches Atlético
In the process, thanks to a double from the omnipresent Argentinian Angel Correa (28th, 53rd), Atlético Madrid controlled at home the surprise team of this start of the season in La Liga, Rayo Vallecano (2-0), in the second Madrid derby of this 19th day. A success that allows the Colchoneros to forget a catastrophic month of December (4 defeats in 4 league matches), to start 2022 with a first victory in La Liga since November 28 (4-1 against Cadiz), and to double in the standings their opponent of the day, somewhat diminished by the cases of Covid-19. Andoni Iraola, the Basque technician from Rayo, has chosen to revive Luca Zidane in the cages, for his second game of the season in La Liga. The French doorman was sent off on a red card on the first day against Sevilla FC (3-0), and did nothad not played in the league since then, giving way to Stole Dimitrievski. He couldn't do anything against Correa's two strikes.
Luuk De Jong, a sign?
Barça too, despite the many cases of Covid-19, started 2022 with a 1-0 victory against Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, thanks to a goal from Luuk de Jong's header just before the break (44th). Announced on the departure by the Catalan press during the winter transfer window which opens Monday in Spain, the center forward proved to his coach that he should perhaps still be counted on. The Dutchman put on a show at the half-hour mark, hitting the Mallorcan frame twice in thirty seconds, first the left upright, then the crossbar, on an acrobatic volley that took the stadium's breath away. His Moix. The lack of staff pushed Xavi to launch new nuggets formed at La Masia in La Liga: Alvaro Sanz replaced Nico in the 71st, and Estanislau Pedrola Fortuny replaced Ilias Akhomach in the 80th,for a scoresheet with a strong blaugrana accent. But the Catalan technician can especially thank Marc-André ter Stegen: the German goalkeeper signed an exceptional save in stoppage time, with an iron right hand, to save the result and allow Barça to finally come back among the qualifying places for European competitions (5th, 31 pts).