The restart to the 2019-20 La Liga season continues to be exciting as Real Madrid smashed Eibar but Atletico Madrid slipped up away at Athletic Bilbao.
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Following on from Barcelona’s hammering of Real Mallorca on Saturday, Real wrapped up all three points with minimum fuss at the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium as construction works at the Santiago Bernabeu means they are playing at their reserve stadium. Zinedine Zidane’s boys put on a show as they moved back to just two points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona.
Atletico and Diego Simeone lost ground in the top four hunt as they were held by a a stubborn Bilbao side, as they are in sixth place and are in a real battle with Real Sociedad, Getafe and Valencia for fourth.
Below we roundup the action from the first La Liga Sunday after the restart and remember: there are La Liga games every single day between now and mid-July as Spain’s top-flight has 11 matchweeks to complete in the 2019-20 season.
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Atletico Madrid
A tight, tense clash at the San Mames ended level as the two draws specialists canceled one another out. Bilbao took the lead through Iker Muniain as he flicked home superbly in the first half.
Muniain breaks the deadlock after a strong passage of @Athletic_en play carves through the visitors' defense. 1-0.#AthleticAtleti - LIVE
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) June 14, 2020
📺 - beIN SPORTS
🖥 - beIN SPORTS CONNECT: https://t.co/LRYa03w6yI pic.twitter.com/teKqMvSJ83
That lead only lasted for a few minutes as Diego Costa pounced to slot home and then paid tribute to Atletico Madrid women’s midfielder Virginia Torrecilla. Costa, who had yet to score in 2020, held up a shirt paying tribute to Virginia who is recovering from surgery on a brain tumor. Bilbao aren’t out of the hunt for Europa League qualification but they had goalkeeper Unai Simon to thank for a draw as late on he denied Santiago Arias with a superb stop down low.
Diego Costa dedicated his goal to Virginia Torrecilla, the @AtletiFemenino player who underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor in May 🔴⚪️❤️ pic.twitter.com/JgoSKWzM5B
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) June 14, 2020
Real Madrid 3-1 Eibar
Real Madrid came flying out of the traps in their game at their reserve stadium, as German midfielder Toni Kroos made it 1-0 with a beauty.
After Karim Benzema worked his way into the box, the ball found Kroos who hit a stunning side-footed effort into the far top corner. VAR checked the goal but Benzema was deemed to not be offside as Real were ahead.
🔥 Toni Kroos. Wow. What a finish.
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) June 14, 2020
Real Madrid lead Eibar 1-0 early on. #RMFC #LaLiga via @beINSPORTSUSA pic.twitter.com/ioWxbyJGuJ
Real were in full flow early on as Eden Hazard, Benzema and Rodrygo caused havoc and that led to a superb second goal.
Sergio Ramos won the ball in his own half, and found Benzema before running 70 yards up the pitch. Benzema then found Hazard who set up an unmarked Ramos to slot home.
What a goal, as Ramos has now joined Ronald Koeman as the second-highest scoring defender in La Liga history with 67 goals.
Benzema and Hazard were at it again soon after.
The French striker wonderfully flicked the ball through to Hazard and his shot was well saved but Eibar failed to clear and the ball dropped to Marcelo.
A stunning strike from the Brazilian left back made it 3-0 as he celebrated by showing his support to the Black Lives Matter movement.
👏✊🇧🇷 @MarceloM12 pic.twitter.com/2X7rSw2uAt
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) June 14, 2020
At the start of the second half Eibar came flying out of the traps as Thibaut Courtois made a handful of good stops, while they also clipped the crossbar as Sergi Enrich glanced a header just too high.
Relegation haunted Eibar deservedly made it 3-1 as a shot deflected off and squirmed past Courtois with the effort credited to Pedro Bigas.
Ramos and Hazard came off in the second half and iced injuries in the stands, as Real eased to victory as they aim to hunt Barcelona down in the final weeks of the season.