Real Madrid confidently completed its mandatory task at the end of the year against Sevilla FC. The Spanish record champions defeated the Andalusians 4:2 (3:1) in their club legend Jesus Navas’ last game.
The Madrilenians moved past struggling championship rivals FC Barcelona into second place. The league leaders are Real’s city rivals Atletico Madrid, who defeated Hansi Flick’s Barca 2-1.
Superstar Kylian Mbappe (10th) and Federico Valverde (20th) gave the Madrilenians a 2-0 lead with two beautiful long-range shots. Rodrygo (34th) made the supposed preliminary decision before Isaac Romero scored 3-1 (35th) just 97 seconds later. Brahim Diaz (53rd) restored the old distance. Former Bundesliga striker Dodi Lukebakio (86th) made the final score 4-2.
Navas says goodbye after 515 league games
Jesus Navas would probably have wished for a better result for his last appearance. The two-time European and World Champion from 2010 is ending his career at the end of the year, which is why the 39-year-old was said goodbye in the run-up to the game after 515 LaLiga games and a total of 18 professional seasons for the club. The homegrown player, who was only active for Manchester City for four years, came onto the pitch in the 65th minute to a standing ovation at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and helped Romero hit the post with his backheel. There were no more brilliant moments in Navas’ last game.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team will start the year 2025 on January 3rd against second-to-last FC Valencia (9 p.m./DAZN). The game was postponed due to the storm at the end of October.
Sörloth gave Barca the knockout in stoppage time
In the top game of La Liga, Atletico Madrid had stolen three points in injury time from FC Barcelona the day before and pushed the Catalans off the top of the table. Ex-Bundesliga professional Alexander Sörloth (90+6) scored the goal as a substitute joker on Saturday for a 2-1 (0-1) win for Diego Simeone’s team. Pedri gave Barcelona a 1-0 lead (30th), and Rodrigo de Paul equalized for the guests (60th).
FC Barcelona, where assistant coach Marcus Sorg was on the sidelines for the suspended Hansi Flick, dictated the game for long periods and had the greater chances until the final phase. But the Catalans either stumbled – especially in the person of the hapless Robert Lewandowski – or failed because of the strong Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
It was Barcelona’s third home defeat in a row in La Liga. Atletico, on the other hand, extended their series to twelve competitive game wins in a row. In the table, Atletico is now 41 points ahead of Barcelona (38), despite playing one game less, but can still be overtaken by Real Madrid (one point and two games less), which hosts Sevilla FC on Sunday.