Madrid derby draw gives Barcelona advantage in La Liga race

It was a great weekend for FC Barcelona. Not only did they elect Joan Laporta as their new club president, they also find themselves just three points behind Atletico Madrid in the Spanish La Liga title race.

The derby between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid ended in a 1-1 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium on Sunday. Defending champions Real Madrid squandered their chance to take the top spot after only managing a draw last night as well as in their match against Real Sociedad last week.

As a result, Barcelona overtook Los Blancos for the second spot. Atletico now has 59 points with the Catalans breathing down their necks with 56. Real Madrid is a further 2 points back with 54. Due to the completion of the elections, Barcelona will likely have a good atmosphere in the dressing room, provided that Laporta makes good on his promise to bring back the club's glory. As such, they are now being seen as favourites to win the title even with Atletico still ahead.

Nevertheless, Atletico Madrid does have a game in hand against their two closest rivals That means they still have an opportunity to go six points clear. Diego Simeone's men still have a good chance to claim the title, and were actually unfortunate to have been held by Karim Benzema's late equaliser.

Atletico dominated the attack against Real, as evidenced by the number of times Thibaut Courtois was called upon to show what he's made of. Former Barca player Luis Suarez scored the opener for Atletico in the 15th minute, ironically assisted by former Real Madrid player Marcos Llorente.

Real Madrid hardly threatened, with their passing accuracy and ball handling looking completely off the mark all evening. It was a genius combination by Casemiro and Benzema that luckily gave them the breakthough in the closing minutes.

All eyes will be on the coming fixtures between the top three. El Clasico is scheduled for April 11. Meanwhile, Atletico will face Barcelona on May 9.