Atletico Madrid took a giant step towards the La Liga title in dramatic circumstances by fighting their way back to beat Osasuna 2-1 at home on Sunday thanks to a late strike from Luis Suarez.
The victory took Atletico on to 83 points after 37 games, two ahead of second-placed Real Madrid who won 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao.
Atletico dominated the game and hit the woodwork twice in the first half before having two goals ruled out for offside but fell behind in the 76th minute when a bullet header from Ante Budimir crossed the line before Jan Oblak could punch it away.
Atletico hit back with an emphatic finish from substitute Renan Lodi in the 82nd minute while top scorer Suarez completed the comeback by firing home from inside the area in the 88th.
Diego Simeone’s side nearly conceded an equaliser deep into added time though when Chimy Avila caught sight of goal but Oblak got across to parry before grabbing the ball with both hands.
Nacho winner
Real ensured the title race will go down to the final weekend as they beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 at San Mames thanks to a second-half goal from defender Nacho Fernandez.
In a first half shorn of clear-cut chances, Real were adamant they should have had a penalty when Alvaro Odriozola’s cross hit Jon Morcillo’s arm, however referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz waved away the protests.
Bilbao almost opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime, however Alex Ber enguer’s free kick bounced just wide of Thibaut Courtois’s far post. Casemiro had a header bounce back off the crossbar shortly after the restart, however the Brazilian midfielder then teed up defender Nacho from close range to give Zinedine Zidane’s side a priceless three points.
Barcelona out of fray
Barcelona saw their hopes of winning the league extinguished as they were beaten 1-2 at home by Celta Vigo.
Barca took the lead through Lionel Messi in the 27th minute, as the Argentine headed Sergio Busquet’s precise cross to make it 30 league goals for the season.
Celta equalised through Santi Mina. With just one minute of normal time left, Mina netted his second of the game to condemn the Catalans to at best a third-placed finish in Ronald Koeman’s first season in charge.
