Madrid edge past Athletic to take title race to final day

Real Madrid were victorious against Athletic Bilbao thanks to a goal from Nacho on 68 minutes. The home side ended the match a man light after Raul Garcia was sent off four minutes from time.

Madrid started well and saw most of the ball, but were unable to put it to good use for the majority of the first half. The match certainly started slowly, before Madrid were controversially denied a penalty for a supposed handball by Athletic's Morcillo. Odriozola crossed the ball from the right and the player appeared to have his arm in an unnatural position, but after a long review VAR decided to stick with the on-field decision of no penalty. This angered the RM bench and players, creating a talking point that is sure to last long after the final whistle.

Real Madrid looked like they were out of luck in the game, as the crossbar denied a fine Benzema header in the first half before Simon got down smartly in the Athletic goal to stop Luka Modric's strike in the second half. After a number of changes to personnel for both sides around the hour mark, the game too appeared to develop - and in Madrid's favour.

RM looked dangerous from corners all afternoon, and it was precisely from this source that their goal came from. The ball eventually found Casemiro from Rodrygo, before the midfielder flashed a pass across goal for Nacho to turn into an empty net. Madrid had turned their luck around, as the ball bounced in kindly off the CB's knee. VAR tried to have their say on this goal too, as Benzema was in an offside position, but the Frenchman was eventually adjudged to have not interefered with play and the goal stood.

Athletic's best chance of an equaliser came through subsitute Vesga's header, which had Courtois beaten all ends up but looped just wide of the post. Things went from bad to worse for the home side when Raul Garcia was sent off after 89 minutes, all but confirming Madrid's victory and maintaining their two point gap off Atletico at the top. Their win means the La Liga title will be decided on the final day of the season, following Atletico's late turnaround against Osasuna.