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La Liga: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletiico Madrid draw

Barcelona secure second place, Getafe will stay up after goalless draw

Barcelona and Getafe played out a goalless draw at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez on Sunday, ensuring the hosts cannot be relegated from LaLiga this season after a rocky start to their 2021-22 campaign.

The point also secures a second-place finish in Spain’s top flight for Xavi Hernandez’s side, who had already secured Champions League football for next season.

“We always want to win, but the draw served us,” Xavi said after the match.

Full Time #GetafeBarça pic.twitter.com/YnPY0i5Yji

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 15, 2022

“The minimum demand at Barcelona is to be in the Supercopa. Now we can reflect on how things have gone since we took over the team. We have turned things around. I wanted to win a trophy, which we haven’t managed. But we stopped the rot.”

“We have played some great games. Now it’s about working on next season, but we also want to show that we can beat Villarreal in the final game.”

Barcelona finished the season well adrift of runaway leaders and 2021-22 champions Real Madrid, with Atletico Madrid and Sevilla, who settled for a 1-1 draw on Sunday, battling for third and fourth in LaLiga.

Getafe are in 14th place on 39 points from 37 games played.

Real Madrid held to draw without star players at relegation-threatened Cadiz

A second-string Real Madrid side were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Cadiz on Sunday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men took the lead inside the opening five minutes through Mariano but were pegged back after Ruben Sobrino equalized for the hosts.

Cadiz had a great chance to take all three points in the second half but former Manchester City striker Alvaro Negredo saw his penalty saved by Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.

With the LaLiga title already wrapped up and a Champions League final against Liverpool at the end of the month, Ancelotti rested a number of first-team regulars.

Thibaut Courtois, Luka Modric, Vinicius Junior, and Karim Benzema were all left out of the matchday squad while Eden Hazard made a return from injury in the second half.

🏁 FT: @Cadiz_CFEN 1-1 @realmadriden
⚽ Sobrino 37′; @marianodiaz7 5′#CádizRealMadrid | #Emirates pic.twitter.com/BZ1pd8t9Wt

— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) May 15, 2022

The LaLiga champions finish off their league campaign next week when they host Real Betis.

“They’re difficult games to play. The other team is playing to stay in the First Division,” Nacho told Movistar after the game.

“Facing my brother [Cadiz’s Alex Fernandez] on a day like today is one of the most difficult games that I’ve had to experience… On the pitch it’s difficult, they’re playing to stay up, they have to do it in the last game, so I’ll support them and above all my brother.”

Sevilla secure Champions League spot with a draw at Atletico Madrid

A late second-half header from Youssef En-Nesyri earned Sevilla a 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid on Sunday, securing Julen Lopetegui’s side Champions League qualification despite extending their winless run to four games.

With Real Madrid already crowned champions and both Barcelona and Atletico assured of a top-four finish, the pressure was on Sevilla, who had drawn their previous three games.

They fell behind at the Metropolitano on Sunday when Atletico defender Jose Maria Gimenez scored the opener with a header in the 30th minute.

Yet Sevilla equalized five minutes from fulltime following a mistake by Reinildo Mandava, who gifted the ball to Oliver Torres on the edge of his own area and the former Porto midfielder crossed perfectly for En-Nesyri to score for Sevilla.

Full time at the Wanda Metropolitano. pic.twitter.com/8EsnbnAHIy

— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) May 15, 2022

There was a tearful goodbye from Atleti forward Luis Suarez when he was substituted in the 65th minute after the club confirmed on Sunday that the Uruguay international would be leaving the team at the end of the season.

With one match remaining, the result left Sevilla fourth in the standings on 67 points, three ahead of Real Betis in fifth, but with a better head-to-head record than their local rivals.

The Copa del Rey winners, who had already secured a Europa League spot, won 2-0 at home against Granada on Sunday.

Barcelona were held to a goalless draw at Getafe but still wrapped up a second-place finish in LaLiga to secure a spot in the lucrative Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.

They are on 73 points, five ahead of third-placed Atletico.

Real Sociedad also secured a spot in the Europa League after recovering from going a goal down to win 2-1 at Villarreal with second-half goals from Alexander Isak and Martin Zubimendi.

They are sixth on 62 points, six ahead of Unai Emery’s Villarreal side who could fail to qualify for European competition entirely, after reaching the Champions League semi-finals this season.

They are only one point ahead of eighth-placed Athletic Bilbao, who won 2-0 on Sunday against Osasuna.

Villarreal play Barcelona next Sunday while Sevilla play Athletic, who are still fighting for seventh place and a spot in the Europa Conference League.

Courtesy: ESPN and Reuters