Atlético Madrid's remarkable 15-game winning streak came to an abrupt end on Saturday as they suffered a surprising 1-0 defeat to local underdogs Leganés, potentially jeopardizing their position at the top of LaLiga.
The loss opens the door for Real Madrid to claim the league leadership should they secure a victory against Las Palmas on Sunday. Despite the setback, Atlético maintains their position at the summit with 44 points, narrowly leading Real Madrid by a single point and holding a six-point advantage over Barcelona, with both rivals having a game in hand.
The match statistics painted a picture of dominance for Atlético, who controlled over 60% of possession and struck the woodwork three times. However, their superiority in numbers failed to translate into goals, culminating in a dramatic missed penalty by Antoine Griezmann in stoppage time.
The decisive moment came in the 50th minute when Leganés capitalized on a corner kick. Dani Raba's cross from the left found defender Matija Nastasic at the far post, who rose high to power a header past goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
In the post-match analysis, Oblak reflected on the team's performance, citing a lack of energy as the primary factor in their defeat. "We didn't start well. We switched off, we didn't have enough energy," the goalkeeper admitted. "We had chances in the second half, but we didn't have enough energy to win the match. We have to keep our heads up, we've lost after 15 wins [in a row]. It would be easy to say we were terrible, but I don't think we were. With a bit more energy we could have turned it around. We had chances."
However, manager Diego Simeone offered a contrasting perspective, expressing pride in his team's previous accomplishments while disagreeing with his goalkeeper's assessment. "We had 15 incredible games. I'm proud to have broken the win record," Simeone stated. "We had difficulties [against Leganés] but the game was there, if we had taken the chances we had... I don't agree with Oblak. The team tried, and they scored with one move, thanks to an individual duel... Game after game, we see that going to any ground is difficult. I think Barcelona, despite all the games they've lost, is the team that feels like they can always beat their opponent."
