La Liga, Round 35: Barcelona come back from two down to win

It wasn’t pretty, it was definitely nervy, but for Atlético Madrid, all that matters is the win. Thanks to a blind header from Raúl Garcia late in the first half, Los Colchoneros escaped the Mestalla with a 1-0 win over Valencia. Atléti are now just two wins away from winning their first La Liga title since 1991.

The always smooth and dependable Gabi lofted a cross into the middle of the Valencia box where García got between two defenders and pulled off a lovely blind header, looping the ball up and over Vicente Guaita into the corner of the net to give Atléti a 1-0 lead.

Diego Simeone’s only injury concern is Arda Turan, who is still recovering match fitness in the wake of a groin injury. Otherwise, he’ll have his full roster available. Gabi is guaranteed to play, since he’ll be unavailable against Chelsea in the mid-week as he servs a card accumulation suspension.

Valencia injuries and suspensions

It took a mere six minutes for Ronaldo to make an impact in his return to league play. It was a typical bit of brilliance from the Portuguese striker, who launched a curling shot from outside the Osasuna box that completely froze goalkeeper Andrés Fernández as the ball sailed past him and into the top corner. You couldn’t help but feel bad for Andrés, who realized about halfway though the ball’s flight that he had no hope of making a play, and basically gave up.

Despite dominating Osasuna throughout the first half, Madrid failed to find a second goal before the halftime break.

Fresh off their Champions League semifinal first leg triumph over Bayern Munich, Real Madrid will now turn their attention back to La Liga where they need a win over Osasuna to keep pressure on league leaders Atlético Madrid in the title race.

Madrid are six points behind their city rivals, though they have a game in hand, and will need to win out if they have any hope of catching Atléti, should they slip up. Carlo Ancelotti will have to balance the need for a result with keeping his players fresh ahead of their midweek match against Bayern, so a couple lineup changes are likely.

Here’s the full schedule of games for round 35 of La Liga.

Real Madrid vs. Osasuna | 2 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. CEST