Five things we learned from La Liga
Real Madrid nudged closer to winning the title with another late winner at Sporting Gijon. Meanwhile, it was another bad week for the bottom three as Tony Adams slumped to defeat on his bow as Granada boss. Here, AFP looks at five things we learned from matchday 32 in La Liga. No luck in Madrid's late shows Isco capped a stunning individual display with a stoppage time winner as Real once again showed their spirt of champions to twice come from behind to beat Sporting Gijon 3-2. It is sixth time this season Madrid have won a game with goals in the final 10 minutes. However, coach Zinedine Zidane rejected claims his side have been blessed by good fortune. "There is no such thing as luck in football," said Zidane. "It is in our DNA to fight until the end at Real Madrid." No case for the Barca defence Barcelona have another Champions League mountain to climb on Wednesday as they attempt to claw back a 3-0 first leg deficit against the meanest defence left in the competition in Juventus. However, even if Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar can be trusted to get the goals, there is no guarantee the Catalans will keep the clean sheet they will almost certainly need to reach the semi-finals. Despite Messi's magic, Barca scrapped past Real Sociedad 3-2 on Saturday bringing the total number of goals they have conceded to seven in the past week alone. Luis Enrique's men have now kept just two clean sheets in their last 13 games. Atletico can't take penalties Possibly still scarred from their Champions League final defeat to bitter rivals Real Madrid in a shootout last season, Atletico Madrid are on a historic run of fluffing their lines from the spot. Yannick Carrasco and Thomas Partey both saw penalties saved in the dying embers of Saturday's routine 3-0 win over Osasuna. Atletico have now failed to score in their last six La Liga spot-kicks via five different takers. No reaction from Adams's United Nations Adams promised when surprisingly presented as Granada boss earlier in the week that he wanted to lay the foundations for the club to rekindle its identity. However, his debut will do little to engender warmth from the local as Adams named a team of 11 different nationalities without a single Spaniard. His quest to kickstart an unlikely bid for survival also failed to win the fans over as Granada slumped to a 3-0 defeat at home to an under-strength Celta Vigo. Hard life away from Las Palmas Las Palmas are comfortably rooted in midtable, but no thanks to their away form as no side in La Liga has a greater disparity between points won at home and on the road. The Canary Islanders were soundly beaten again on their travels 5-1 by Athletic Bilbao on Friday night. They have now taken just three points away since the opening weekend of the season. By contrast, on home form alone they would be in the top six. It's a hard life away from the sun, sea and sand of the Canaries.
