Barcelona and Atletico Madrid played out a 0-0 draw on Saturday that did nothing for either side, handing the advantage to Real Madrid in the LaLiga Santander title race.
The draw leaves everything in the hands of Zinedine Zidane’s side, with Los Blancos now only depending on their own results with four games to play. If they win them all, they will retain the title.
With Sevilla, Granada, Athletic Club and Villarreal to come, they have the most complicated run-in of the three contenders, but they wouldn’t have expected to find themselves in this position after their draw against Real Betis two weeks ago.
Should Real Madrid draw, or even lose to Sevilla, things will stay as they were before Matchday 35 got underway. One more loss for Atletico and only wins for Real Madrid after this weekend would give Los Blancos the edge, as they boast a superior head-to-head record over their cross-city rivals.
The draw was worse for Barcelona than Atleti, as they now need to win all of their remaining games and hope that two teams – both Madrid sides – slip up again after this weekend.
As it stands, Real Madrid are the favourites to win the title again.
Akpoguma scores first ever Bundesliga goal in 67 appearances
Kevin Akpoguma scored his first ever German Bundesliga goal on his return from injury to help his club-side, Hoffenheim come from behind to beat already-relegated Schalke 04.
Akpoguma grabbed his maiden goal of the campaign in the 52nd minute to help Hoffenheim battle back from a two-goal deficit to secure a 4-2 win against Schalke at the Prezero Arena on Saturday.
Andrej Kramaric sent in a corner that the returning Akpoguma looped into the back of the net with Schalke goalkeeper getting his fingertips to the ball but couldn’t claw out.
Akpoguma came back from injury against Bayer Leverkusen on April 12 but the centre-back suffered a setback, coming off for Haavard Nordtveit in the 88th minute.
Ever since then, the 26-year-old had gone on to miss three German top-light outings against the likes of RB Leipzig, Borussia Mönchengladbach and lastly, Freiburg.
Akpoguma has thus gotten his first Bundesliga goal after 67 matches, 15 this season, 18 in 2019/20, four for Hannover 96 and eight for Hoffenheim in 2018/19 and 22 in 2017/18.
By Oluyemi Ogunseyin