Real Madrid‘s chances of defending their La Liga title this season have been dealt a real blow as they slipped to a 0-0 draw at Getafe.
Zinedine Zidane‘s injury hit side were unable to break down their determined hosts in the south of Madrid as the gap between themselves and leaders Atletico Madrid remains at three points.
Jose Bordalas’ side carved out the better early chances at the Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Perez with Thibaut Courtois called into action to deny Mathias Olivera before Jaime Mata struck a post.
Zidane’s visitors did improve either side of the break with Vinicius Junior and Mariano Diaz testing David Soria.
However, Getafe dominated the closing stages with Courtois again coming to Real Madrid’s rescue with key stops from Nemanja Maksimovic and Angel Rodriguez.
Up next for Real Madrid is a midweek league trip to Cadiz with struggling Getafe facing an away tie at Barcelona.
Juventus’ Champions League qualification hopes were dented by a late Atalanta winner as they felt the full force of Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence.
Andrea Pirlo’s side struggled without the injured CR7 and were beaten courtesy of Ruslan Malinovskiy’s 87th minute strike.
Atalanta secured their first Serie A victory over Juventus for two decades, as a Malinovskyi deflected strike proved the difference.
Alvaro Morata will rue not making the most of two big opportunities, while Duvan Zapata’s diving header flashed wide.
Malinovskyi has been on stunning form lately and, after his rocket of a free kick was parried, he turned in the rebound with a deflection off Alex Sandro.
Juventus really should’ve taken the lead on 34 minutes when Federico Chiesa caught Joakim Maehle napping in the box and set up Alvaro Morata, but the Spaniard took one too many touches, tried to dink it over Pierluigi Gollini and Berat Djimsiti was able to clear off the line.
Atalanta leapfrogged their opponents into third place and moved on to 64 points, two ahead of Juventus, with both having played 31 games.
The Bianconeri are set to see their decade of dominance in the Italian league ended after nine consecutive Scudetto wins.
Alan Shearer, Ashley Cole and Micah Richards praised Thomas Tuchel’s tactics after the Chelsea manager masterminded a 1-0 FA Cup semi-final win against Manchester City on Saturday.
Chelsea exploited City’s high line throughout, with a goal narrowly ruled out for offside before Hakim Ziyech swept home for the only goal of the game after Timo Werner was played through behind the City defence.
The result ended City’s dreams of an unprecedented quadruple but keeps Chelsea’s hopes of winning the FA Cup and Champions League alive after an impressively disciplined and resolute performance.
And record all-time Premier League goalscorer Shearer hailed Tuchel’s tactical set-up as being key to the victory.
He said: “Chelsea definitely deserved the win. Their system stopped Man City playing and when they played against that high line, it worked to perfection. That’s why Werner was in the team today – Tuchel knew City would struggle with that high line.
“It’s good going (14 clean sheets in 19 games). They looked strong in the middle, Man City didn’t really create anything at all.
“Because of Chelsea’s resilience, they weren’t bothered about City passing the ball around in front of them. City will be really disappointed with the way they played.”
Former Citizens defender Micah Richards also had his say on the defeat for Pep Guardiola’s side, stating they missed the creative influence of Phil Foden, who came on as a second-half substitute for the injured Kevin de Bruyne.
He said: “Foden was magical. He seems to get better and better and better. They’re a better team with him in the side. There was no spark – Chelsea played really well today.”
Ashley Cole added: “The (Chelsea) defensive display today was brilliant. They put their bodies on the line, defended well, it was a terrific performance. It’s going to be a big few months for them until the end of the season.’
Chelsea could yet win the FA Cup and Champions League, while the Premier League, EFL Cup and Champions League treble is still on for City – the champions elect face Tottenham in the EFL Cup final next Sunday.
