World Cup winner Toni Kroos and Real Madrid have suffered another blow in their bid to catch up with Barcelona at the top of the table. On the 25th matchday, Malaga held them to a 1-1 draw to prevent them making up ground on rivals Barca. Atletico Madrid have the chance to go three points ahead of them tonight in their match against Villarreal.
It was the Germany midfielder who created the first goal of the game, as his free-kick was turned in by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 33rd minute. Raúl Albentosa got his team the equaliser in the 66th minute.
After going twelve games without picking up a win, Shkrodran Mustafi heped Valencia record their second victory in a row against Grenada on Sunday night. Mustafi played a full 90 minutes as Valencia come out 2-1 winners, thanks to goals from Daniel Parejo and Santi Mina. Valencia are currently tenth in the league with 31 points. They are currently seven points away from the European football places.
Podolski and Galatasaray win against seven men
Lukas Podolski scored his tenth goal of the season in Glatasaray’s 2-1 win over Trabzonspor. The visitors ended the game with seven men, after two Trabzonspor players picked up second yellow cards and two more picked up straight reds. Galatasaray went behind through a penalty in the 25th minute, before a goal from Podolski and a penalty from Selcuk Inan gave them the victory.
Galatasaray are now third in the table with 37 points, thirteen points off league leaders Fenerbache. Mario Gomez’s Besikatas are eleven points ahead in second and host Genclerbirligi tonight (19:00 CET). If Gomez and Co. win they will go above Fenerbache in the table.
Rüdiger’s Roma win comfortably
Rüdiger and Roma won their fifth game in a row with a 5-0 win over Palermo on Sunday night. Edin Dzeko and Mohamad Salah both put in good performances for Roma, with the former Wolfsburg man Edin Dzeko scoring twice and giving the assists for two more, including the assist for one of Salah’s two goals.
Roma now sit fourth in Serie A with 50 points, two points clear of Inter Milan in fifth. There is an eight point gap between Roma and league leaders Juventus, who drew 0-0 with Bologna. However, with Napoli being only two points behind, they can overtake Juventus if they manage to beat AC Milan tonight (21:00 CET).
Lazio and Miroslav Klose were less successful yesterday, as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Frosinone. Klose was brought on in the 66th minute for Filip Djordevic, but the 37-year-old world cup winner wasn’t able to find a winner for his team. The draw means Lazio are currently eighth in the table, eleven points away from the international places.