Atlético Madrid’s 15-game winning run came to an end on Saturday when they were unexpectedly beaten 1-0 by lowly local rivals Leganes, a defeat that could see them lose the LaLiga lead if Real Madrid defeat Las Palmas on Sunday.
Diego Simeone’s Atlético still top the standings on 44 points, one ahead of second-placed Real Madrid and six clear of Barcelona in third, both with a game in hand.
Atlético dominated the game with more than 60% of ball possession, three strikes off the woodwork and twice as many goal attempts as the home side but paid a heavy price for too many squandered chances, including a penalty kick missed by Antoine Griezmann in added time.
Leganes scored the winner from a corner in the 50th minute, when Dani Raba crossed from the left to defender Matija Nastasic, at the far post, who fired a towering header past goalkeeper Jan Oblak and into the back of the net.
“We didn’t start well. We switched off, we didn’t have enough energy,” Oblak said postmatch. “We had chances in the second half, but we didn’t have enough energy to win the match. We have to keep our heads up, we’ve lost after 15 wins [in a row]. It would be easy to say we were terrible, but I don’t think we were. With a bit more energy we could have turned it around. We had chances.”
Atlético coach Simeone did not agree and said so.
“We had 15 incredible games. I’m proud to have broken the win record,” he said, “We had difficulties [against Leganes] but the game was there, if we had taken the chances we had… I don’t agree with Oblak.
“The team tried, and they scored with one move, thanks to an individual duel… Game after game, we see that going to any ground is difficult. I think Barcelona, despite all the games they’ve lost, is the team that feels like they can always beat their opponent.”
ESPN’s Alex Kirkland contributed to this report.
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