(Football news) Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are joint top of the La Liga table going into the 2nd international break. Barcelona on the other hand are struggling on 9th in the table.

Barcelona continued their terrible run of form with a 2-0 loss away at Atlético Madrid. The Blaugrana were tactically outplayed by Diego Simeone's team. Despite playing 5 at the back, Atlético managed to find spaces in between the defenders to exploit. The Barcelona defenders couldn't handle Thomas Lemar who caused them a lot of trouble. Lemar opened the scoring after being set up by Luis Suarez with some intricate passing. Lemar returned the favour by assisting Suarez who scored the 2nd just before half time. Barcelona didn't create many chances despite dominating the possession. The indication from the Barcelona board is that Ronald Koeman will continue as the coach but he would have to get the squad back to winning ways after the international break.

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After their embarrassing UCL loss to Sheriff Town at home, Real Madrid lost 2-1 away at newly promoted Espanyol. Los Blancos' defensive problems still persist after they found themselves 2 goals down by half time. Real Madrid did spend the majority of the 2nd half on the front foot and managed to pull one back but couldn't score a 2nd goal. The 4 man Real Madrid midfield of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Eduardo Camavinga and Fede Valverde was outrun in the first half which forced Carlo Ancelotti to take off Camavinga at half time. The substitutions made a difference but the 2 goal deficit proved to be too much because of Espanyol's excellent low block.

Real Madrid have gone into the international break in the worst possible way. Having said that, the break will allow Ferland Mendy, Marcelo and Dani Carvajal to recover and come back from their respective injuries.