(ANSA) – BARCELONA, MARCH 05 – Scourged by absences and reduced to ten after an hour of play, Barcelona struggled to overcome Valencia, beaten 1-0 at the Camp Nou in a match on the 24th day of La Liga. However, he increased the lead over second-placed Real Madrid to 9 points, held back to a 0-0 draw at Betis. The Catalans – now with 62 points – opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a header from Raphinha, but things got complicated in the second half: Ferran Torres missed a penalty in the 55th minute and Ronald Araujo was sent off after a card direct red in the 59th minute for a foul as the last defender.
Real Madrid was left dry in Seville. Karim Benzema was convinced he had opened the scoring in the 12th minute, but his direct free kick was deflected by Antonio Rüdiger’s hand into the barrier and the referee disallowed the goal with help from the Var. It was then punctuated by numerous chances from both sides and it took an impeccable Thibaut Courtois to keep Real afloat.
Atletico Madrid rises to third place (45 points), thanks to a 6-1 defeat of Sevilla. Depay, Griezmann, Ferreira-Carrasco and Alvaro Morata scored twice (two goals for him too).
(ANSA).
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