Slovenia national team shot stopper Jan Oblak was just two minutes away from keeping a clean sheet in the Madrid Derby as his Atletico Madrid team played out a 1-1 draw at home to fellow title challengers and city rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish La Liga. Real Madrid are the defending champions after they won the league title last season but they have been playing catch up for the majority of this season. Atletico Madrid have been the pacesetters in the Spanish La Liga this season and Real Madrid have been trying to keep pace with their city rivals. Slovenia goalkeeper Oblak has been a key player for Atletico Madrid in their run to the top of the table in the Spanish top flight this term. The Slovenia was in the Atletico Madrid goal for the big clash with Real Madrid on Sunday evening. Atletico Madrid took the lead through star striker Luis Suarez. A lot of football stakeholders were shocked when Barcelona let Uruguayan international hitman Suarez join Atletico Madrid last summer and that moved has proven to be costly for the Catalans. Luis Suarez has been scoring the goals for Atletico Madrid in the quest to end a seven-year wait for the league title in Spain. Suarez was deemed to be surplus to requirements by new Barcelona boss Ronald Koemanand he could have signed for Juventus before eventually staying in Spain with Atletico Madrid. Suarez moved from Barcelona to Atletico Madrid for €6m as he had just one year left on his then Barcelona deal.
Suarez scored the opening goal of the Madrid Derby on 15 minutes to take his tally to 17 goals in the race for the highest goalscorer in the league this season. He is second on the list of goalscorers and two behind the great Lionel Messi. Messi has 19 league goals this season. Real Madrid trailed Suarez and Atletico Madrid until the final two minutes when Karim Benzema equalised for the visitors. Slovenia shot stopperOblak couldn’t do anything about the goal from Karim Benzema, who was making his return from injury in the Madrid Derby. The 1-1 draw meant that league leaders Atletico Madrid are now three points better than Barcelona though they have an outstanding game on the Catalans. With 12 games left to play this season, Atletico Madrid have 59 points, while Barcelona and Real Madrid have 56 points and 54 points respectively. Real Madrid and Barcelona have played a game more than the leaders.