MADRID: Real Madrid are making it clear they are still in the fight for the Spanish league title.
With a convincing victory in the Madrid derby on Saturday, Real Madrid climbed up to second place in the Spanish league for the first time since September and moved within five points of leaders Barcelona, who have a difficult away match against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
“We reached our goal, which was to regain second place and move closer to the lead,” Madrid captain Sergio Ramos said. “The league isn’t over yet. There are many points still up for grabs. We will keep fighting until the end and we will keep trying to make things difficult for Barcelona.”
In a derby marked by video review, Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium with an overhead kick by Casemiro, a penalty kick converted by Ramos, and a second-half goal by Gareth Bale.
“You need to play a complete match to win here, and we did that,” manager Santiago Solari said.
Antoine Griezmann scored for Atletico, which lost at home for the first time this season. Diego Simeone’s team stayed six points off the lead.
Griezmann’s goal was initially disallowed for offside but the VAR reversed the call. Video review also had to be used to confirm the penalty that led to Ramos’ goal just before halftime, and to verify another offside call that disallowed a second-half equalizer by former Real Madrid forward Alvaro Morata. It was also used when Morata wanted a penalty call — not awarded — later in the game.
Atletico, coming off their first league loss since the third round, played a man down from the 80th minute after midfielder Thomas Partey was sent off for a second yellow card.
The city rivals drew their last four league matchups, and Real Madrid’s last win against Atletico was nearly two years ago in the Champions League semifinals.
Saturday’s match was even when Casemiro opened the scoring with his an overhead kick after Atletico’s defense could not fully clear a corner kick.
Griezmann equalized less than 10 minutes later by sending a shot underneath goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in a one-on-one situation created after Real Madrid forward Vinicius Juniors lost the ball in attack. It took a while for the video review to reverse the offside call that initially disallowed the goal, keeping a record crowd of more than 67,752 at the Metropolitano from being able to celebrate.
The VAR then helped Real Madrid by confirming a penalty decision after Vinicius Junior made a great run down the left side and was brought down from behind by Jose Maria Gimenez just inside the area. Ramos converted the 42nd-minute penalty.
Atletico thought they had equalized again early in the second half after Morata — playing against his former club for the first time since joining Atletico — scored with a shot over Courtois, but he was immediately ruled offside.
Madrid sealed their fifth league win in a row with Bale’s low shot after a pass by Luka Modric in the 74th. Bale, who replaced Vinicius Junior earlier in the second half, appeared to provoke the Atletico crowd during his celebration near one of the sidelines.
Courtois, who used to play for Atletico, was loudly jeered from the start. Atletico fans threw stuffed rats toward the goalkeeper from behind one of the goals.
Sergio Ramos shines as Real win Madrid derby, close La Liga gap on Barcelona
Sergio Ramos shines as Real win Madrid derby, close La Liga gap on Barcelona
Italian gymnastics ex-coach stands trial for bullying
ROME: The former coach of Italy’s rhythmic gymnastics team goes on trial Tuesday accused of bullying athletes, fueling questions over the treatment of young athletes as the country hosts the Winter Olympics.
Emanuela Maccarani, a former national team gymnast herself, faces charges of abuse of minors at a court in Monza near Milan, which is hosting part of the Games.
The trial was sparked by explosive claims three years ago by two promising Italian gymnasts, Nina Corradini and double world champion Anna Basta, who claimed they quit the sport while still teenagers as a result of psychological abuse by Maccarani.
Corradini and Basta are civil parties along with two other gymnasts, Beatrice Tornatore and Francesca Mayer, and Change The Game, an Italian association campaigning against emotional, physical and sexual abuse and violence in sports.
Maccarani has denied the charges. Five gymnasts who trained with her submitted statements in her defense at a preliminary hearing in September.
Change The Game founder Daniela Simonetti told AFP the trial throws into “question methods that often cause pain, devastation, and significant consequences for boys and girls in general.”
“This trial is linked to a way of thinking, a way of understanding sport, a way of managing young athletes.
“The expectation is that there will be a real debate around this, whether these methods are right or wrong,” she said.
Episodes of alleged abuse in the discipline have come under growing scrutiny, particularly following a sexual abuse scandal in the late 2010s, which saw former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar convicted of molesting girls.
Vulnerable
The Olympics Committee has given more attention to mental health in recent years in a bid to protect athlete wellbeing.
While the discipline is not featured at the Winter Games, the world’s top gymnasts are preparing for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Coach Maccarani, 59, led Italy to the top of a sport traditionally dominated by countries from the former Soviet bloc.
But during her near three-decade reign at the Italian team’s National Training Center in Desio, not far from Monza, days began with gymnasts being weighed in front of one another.
Often a long way from their families and barely out of childhood, they were vulnerable.
Some took laxatives and weighed themselves obsessively. One world champion reported being berated for eating a pear.
The affair appeared to be over in September 2023 when Maccarani was given a simple warning by the disciplinary tribunal of the country’s gymnastics federation (FGI) and handed back the reins of the national team, nicknamed the “Butterflies.”
But in March last year the FGI, under new president Andrea Facci, sacked Maccarani.
The FGI’s official explanation to AFP at the time of her dismissal was that the organization wanted to “open a new cycle in preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”
Corradini, whose testimony led the Monza prosecutor’s office to open an investigation, told AFP last year she was happy for “the young athletes who will now join the national team and who will surely have a different experience.”
