Goalless farce: wasteful Barca fail to capitalize on Real Madrid's draw

Barcelona missed their chance to close the gap to Real Madrid in the La Liga title race, as they drew at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday night, 0-0.

The Catalan side were the better team in the opening half, with Joao Cancelo being the closest one to get his name on the scoresheet with an audacious shot from almost 40 yards before his effort was cleared off the line by Yeray Alvarez.

However, it was a horrible half for Barca, as Frenkie de Jong and Pedri suffered ankle and hamstring injuries, respectively.

After the break, the home team came out and played much better. Still, they failed to create any clear chances in what was a rather uneventful game outside of the injury problems for the Blaugrana.

The result means that Barcelona stays in third, eight points behind the Royals and one behind Girona, who slipped against Mallorca. Athletic Club remain in fifth, but are now five points below Atletico Madrid in the race for the Champions League places.

LA LIGA

Friday

Celta - Almeria 1-0 (0-0)

/Mingueza 83/

Saturday

Sevilla - Sociedad 3-2 (2-1)

/En Nesyri 11, 13, Ramos 65 - SIlva 45+5, Mendez 90+2/

Rayo Vallecano - Cadiz 1-1 (0-0)

/Lejeune 88 - Hernandez 90+12/

Getafe - Las Palmas 3-3 (3-1)

/Mata 11, Greenwood 14, Maksimovic 45 - Ramirez 35, Cardona 50, Munir 57/

Valencia - Real Madrid 2-2 (2-1)

/Duro 27, Yaremchuk 30 - Vinicius 45+5, 76/

Sunday

Villarreal - Granada 5-1 (3-0)

/Sorloth 7, 19, 66, Capoue 32, Guedes 47 - Corbeanu 90+1/

Atletico Madrid - Betis 2-1 (2-0)

/Silva 8 og, Morata 44 - Carvalho 62/

Mallorca - Girona 1-0 (1-0)

/Copete 33/

Athletic Bilbao - Barcelona 0-0

Monday

23.00: (2.40) Osasuna (3.10) Alaves (3.20)

***odds are subject to change