Barcelona’s home game against Osasuna was postponed 18 minutes before the kick-off due to the sad passing of first team doctor Carles Minarro Garcia.
The La Liga league leaders were due to kick off at 9pm local time but the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys was emptied as the tragic news emerged. The club moved quickly to postpone the game after reports of Garcia’s death and players and officials were understandably heartbroken. The talented medic had been with the club for seven years and will be sadly missed after he passed away during the team’s pre-match gathering. President Joan Laporta paid this tribute: “He was a man who travelled to every match to take care of all the players, the coaching staff, anyone,” he said. “He never said no to anyone, A great professional, a great doctor.”
Barcelona started the weekend top of the La Liga table, a point ahead of Atletico Madrid and they will return to action on Tuesday when they host Benfica in the Champions League Round of 16 second leg.
The Catalan club issued a statement saying: “FC Barcelona is deeply saddened to announce the passing of first-team doctor Carles Minnaro Garcia this evening. The Board of Directors and all staff extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time.”
Officials at Osasuna paid their tribute which read: “Club Atletico Osasuna wishes or convey its deepest condolences to the family of Dr. Carles Minarro Garcia and would like to send a warm hug to all the staff of FC Barcelona, as well as to its fans, at this difficult time.”
Real win while Atleti stumble
In my SBOTOP preview of Real Madrid’s match with Rayo Vallecano I suggested this game could be a banana skin and Los Blancos certainly had to work hard, but they secured all three points to draw level with Barcelona thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior in a 2-1 win. Meanwhile Atletico Madrid fell to a shock 2-1 defeat away to Getafe to stay a single point behind the leading pair.
In the 2pm Sunday kick-off Diego Simeone’s men could have gone top with a win and they looked to be on course when Alexander Sorloth gave them a 75th minute lead from the penalty spot. Los Rojiblancos were weakened in midfield when Rodrigo de Paul pulled up with a knock shortly before the break and was substituted at half time. And when the manager brought Sorloth on, to replace Julian Alvarez, it was the Norwegian who broke the deadlock from 12 yards after defender Omar Alderete had handled. It looked like Sorloth’s tenth goal of the campaign would be enough for a win but things started to wrong when Argentine winger Angel Correa was red carded for a reckless tackle on Djene Dakonam with three minutes of normal time remaining. Getafe drew level through midfielder Mauro Arambarri and, with ten minutes of injury time awarded the hosts through everything they could at Atleti and reaped their reward when Arambarri struck again.
Los Rojiblancos loss to Getafe was one of the big La Liga 2025 results of the year and it could be a big psychological blow to Simeone’s men. And things got worse for the red side of Madrid when Carlo Ancelotti’s Real picked up all three points from their 4-15pm win against Vallecano. The La Liga 2025 betting odds still favour the Catalans but, in such a tight three horse race there will surely be twists and turns to come.
This was no walk in the park for Los Blancos despite taking an early two goal lead. The visitors dominated possession and won the shot count by 20 to ten and six to five on target, but Real’s quality in front of goal was the telling factor. First Mbappe finished off an electric counter attack and then Vinicius doubled the lead with a superb piece of skill to make it 2-0 on the half hour. The visitors halved the deficit when Pedro Diaz hit a screamer in off the crossbar. Initially the goal wasn’t given as the ball bounced down and out, but goal line technology showed it had crossed the line. Vallecano pushed for a leveller while Los Blancos were happy to sit back and hit their visitors on the break.
The two Madrid sides meet in the Champions League second leg on Wednesday as Atleti aim to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg and, while Los Blancos will be in better spirits, Simeone might well get a reaction from his players.
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