Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo scored for the 10th game in a row in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Santiago Bernabeu to Atletico Madrid but Antoine Griezmann struck back at the other end to keep his side four points ahead of their cross-city rivals in La Liga.
Yet the Madrid derby draw only pushes Barcelona closer to winning the league title as second-placed Atletico now trail Ernesto Valverde’s runaway leaders by 11 points, while Valencia climbed above Real into third after beating Espanyol 1-0.
Ronaldo followed his outrageous bicycle kick strike against Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday by breaking the deadlock in an entertaining contest in the 53rd minute, reports Reuters.
He sent a cross from Gareth Bale crashing past Jan Oblak on the volley, hitting the target for the 20th time in 10 games.
Atletico quickly struck back with Griezmann tapping into an empty net in the 57th minute to complete an excellent team move which ensured that Diego Simeone’s side avoided defeat away to Real in the league for the fifth consecutive season.
Barcelona lead the standings on 79 points after beating Leganes 3-1 on Saturday. Atletico have 68 while Valencia have 65 and Real are fourth on 64 after 31 games.
The Catalans will lift a 25th Liga title if they win four of their seven remaining games.
Real winger Marco Asensio and left back Marcelo both hit the crossbar in the first half while the home side had penalty appeals waved away either side of the interval and Oblak was forced to save goal-bound shots from Dani Carvajal and Ronaldo.
Real keeper Keylor Navas beat away a low strike from Diego Costa in the first half and then kept out a powerful effort from Koke in the second while Atletico midfielder Saul Niguez struck one just wide as the visitors grew in confidence.