Real Madrid and Barcelona ground out road wins in the La Liga on Saturday while resting starters for their respective Champions League clashes against Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
League leader Madrid won at Mallorca 1-0 to remain eight points clear of Barcelona after its 1-0 victory at Cadiz. The Spanish powerhouses will meet next weekend after their games in Europe’s elite competition.
Madrid midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni scored the game’s only goal at Mallorca three minutes after halftime.
Madrid visits City on Wednesday with its quarterfinal poised after a 3-3 draw in Spain’s capital this week.
“We played a very difficult game against City and we are tired, but we know that when we play for Madrid we have to give it our all until the end,” Tchouaméni said.
Vinicius Júnior and Eduardo Camavinga played the final half hour as substitutes. Dani Carvajal went on for the final minutes, while Rodrygo and Toni Kroos never left the bench. Jude Bellingham started and was replaced by Camavinga.
João Félix scored to lead Barcelona at relegation-threatened Cadiz, while Xavi Hernández rested several starters ahead of their home match against PSG on Tuesday.
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Raphinha, who scored twice in Barcelona’s 3-2 win in Paris, played only the final 10 minutes at Cadiz. Lamine Yamal, Jules Koundé, and potential starter Pedri González went on for the final half hour. Ilkay Gundogan, Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araújo, and João Cancelo stayed on the bench at Cadiz. Robert Lewandowski was unavailable while serving a suspension.
MADRID WINS
A long strike by Tchouaméni that deflected off a defender before finding the net was the only way Madrid got past the defense of Javier Aguirre’s Mallorca.
Tchouaméni will miss the game in England to serve a suspension. A holding midfielder, he was used as a central defender by manager Carlo Ancelotti in the first leg against City while Madrid dealt with injuries.
Ancelotti equaled Zinedine Zidane with 183 league games coached for Madrid, second only to Miguel Muñoz’s record 424 league games.
Mallorca was playing its first game since losing the Copa del Rey final on penalties to Athletic Bilbao last weekend. It remained in 15th place.
FÉLIX SCORES
Félix did his best to convince Xavi he should get minutes against PSG by scoring the game’s only goal in an overall strong performance.
He took the 36th-minute winner with a bicycle kick from the edge of the six-yard box to whip in a corner kick that was knocked on by a Cadiz defender.
“We all work to be starters,” Félix said. “I am just like any other player who wants to play since I know I have what it takes to help the team.”
Barcelona goalie Marc-Andre ter Stegen protected the three points by stretching to get one hand on Diadié Samassékou’s powerful strike in the 80th, the hosts’ only real threat.
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