(Football news) 2022 is off to a rather interesting start in the La Liga as the two struggling sides Barcelona and Atlético Madrid have started with wins while the league leaders Real Madrid put in a lackluster performance and lost. 

Real Madrid lost 1-0 away at Getafe after a completely toothless performance. Manager Carlo Ancelotti's post match comment where he said that the team was still on holiday summed up the game. A mistake at the back from Eder Militao in the 9th minute gifted the home side a goal. Militao, who is having a terrific season made a mistake which eventually cost his side 3 points. Los Blancos struggled without their star winger Vinicius Jr while Karim Benzema had a very bad day by his standards. Real Madrid failed to break the resilient Getafe back line as they often had to rely on long shots and set pieces to create goal scoring opportunities. The Los Blancos don't have too much time to reflect as they face Alcoyano in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

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Angel Correa's brace guided Atletico Madrid to a 2-0 win against Rayo Vallecano. The victory took them to 4th place and ended their losing streak of 4 games. Correa scored goals in the 28th and 53rd minute to give Atleti a much needed victory. The game was fairly comfortable for Diego Simeone's side despite missing 3 key players through COVID-19. With Real Madrid losing their fixture, Atletico are now 14 points behind them with a game in hand. The Rojiblancos will now be fully focused on their Copa del Rey match against Rayo Majadahonda.

Barcelona got a narrow 1-0 win away at Mallorca courtesy of a header by Luuk De Jong just before half time. The Blaugrana got 3 very important points despite having 7 COVID-19 absentees, 1 suspension and a further 9 injured players out. The game was extremely scrappy and had 47 fouls. With the win, Barcelona are now 5th on the table, just 1 point behind 4th placed Atletico Madrid. Their next game is against Linares Deportivo in the Copa del Rey.