La Liga winners and losers as Barcelona's Lionel Messi is ruined by Diego Godin's cheeky turn

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  • The return of La Liga finally saw Real Madrid chip away at Barcelona’s lead at the top of the table.

    A Cristiano Ronaldo late winner was enough for Los Blancos to secure all three points while Atletico Madrid restricted the Catalans to a draw, ending their perfect record.

    Here we look at two winners and two losers from the league’s action.

    WINNERS

    Diego Godin

    Atletico’s defensive stalwart put in another commanding performance at the back.

    However, his proudest moment would have been one with the ball at his feet. Godin isn’t known for his flair but in this occasion, he evaded Lionel Messi – of all people – with an audacious turn Zinedine Zidane would’ve been proud of.

    In the final five minutes of the game, Godin and Messi both raced to the ball with the Uruguayan getting to it first just outside his own area. He proceeded to execute a roulette to leave the four-time Ballon d’Or winner for dead. Tekkers.


    Zinedine Zidane

    Los Blancos have bee struggling for form this season and almost succumbed to another disappointing result at Getafe on Saturday.

    However, a late Ronaldo goal saved their blushes (and his) as they managed to come away with three points.

    More significantly though, they broke a Barcelona record in the process by claiming a 13th successive away win in La Liga.

    Zinedine Zidane’s remarkable start to his managerial career has been consistently compared to Pep Guardiola’s at Barca and this latest feat chalks up another point in the Frenchman’s column.

    Zidane

    Zidane

    LOSERS

    Cristiano Ronaldo

    Prior to his match-winning strike, Ronaldo was on a run of 28 shots without a goal with only seven finding the target.

    It looked like it would be another goalless display for the Portuguese when he missed a glorious opportunity in the 73rd minute.

    With an empty net at his mercy, he somehow managed to prod the ball wide from only a couple of yards out under no pressure.

    He eventually scored to secure the win for Madrid but there’s no erasing a miss like that for a player of his calibre.


    Gerard Pique

    We almost want to put Gerard Pique down as a winner for getting back to his feet after this one.

    All was even as Atletico and Barcelona drew on Saturday but Antoine Griezmann definitely left the Wanda Metropolitano one-up on Pique.

    The French forward picked the ball up and ran through the heart of Barcelona’s defence and quite literally through Pique as well, pulling off a spectacular nutmeg at pace that left the Spaniard on his backside before his shot was saved by Marc ter Stegen.

    Se Queda‘ indeed.


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