Madrid (AFP)

Real Madrid were held to 0-0 at home on Saturday night by Betis Sevilla, missing a great opportunity to provisionally join the lead Atlético Madrid, who play Sunday at Athletic Bilbao on Matchday 32 of the Spanish Championship.

Under persistent rain, Zinédine Zidane's team did not manage to find the net for Betis who took advantage of this draw to keep their 6th place in the standings with one point more than Villarreal (7th) and tied with Real Sociedad (5th).

Madrid, who will play on Tuesday against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final first leg, didn't really have a clear opportunity despite a Rodrygo shot in the 54th that hit the crossbar, without it being clear whether it was a cross or a shot that wanted to be on target.

The draw reflects a balanced game even if Real had more possession with 57%, 17 shots and 8 corners, against respectively 6 and 2 at Betis.

If the Madrid club thus prolongs its undefeated series of meetings which has been running since January 30, it has missed a great opportunity for the championship.

Taking into account his match (0-0) against Liverpool ten days ago which allowed him to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, he recorded his third draw on Saturday in his last four matches, during which he did not concede any goal.

- Warm-up for Hazard -

Eden Hazard came in fifteen minutes from time to try to warm up after a three-month absence before the game against his former club, but failed to make the decision against a stubborn and solid Betis in defense.

Atlético, who are two points ahead of the Merengue, will therefore have a great opportunity on Sunday to take off if they manage to win against the Basques de Bilbao, currently 10th in the championship.

The third, Barcelona, ​​will be at Villarreal on Sunday to try, in case of victory, to pick up at Real Madrid, with one game less.

Earlier in the day, Elche came out of the relegation zone thanks to his victory against Levante (1-0) thanks to the fifth goal of the season for Argentinian Lucas Boyé.

He and his partners had won only one of their last eleven matches, against Sevilla.

Valladolid, which could not hold its advantage against Cadiz (1-1), switches to 18th place.

Óscar Plano had scored well in the first quarter of an hour (14th), but Juan Cala deprived the Violet and White of a first victory in five matches (64th).

With 29 units, they have one less than Elche, but have one more game to play on Wednesday against Athletic Bilbao.

In case of victory, they would also overtake Deportivo Alaves, 16th with 31 points, who believed to snatch victory on the lawn of Valencia with a late goal from John Guidetti (84th).

The end of the match escaped them, however, with the expulsion of Javi Lopez (87th) before the equalizer of José Gaya (1-1, 89th).

© 2021 AFP