The importance of taking a point

Diego Simeone could not have expected much more from his first game in charge of the current Atlético Madrid team, players who in the final days of previous coach Gregorio Manzano had seemingly lost the will to fight. The Argentinean said he wanted a feisty performance on the south coast, and he got that, although the Atlético offense barely functioned when in possession.

What Simeone might have hoped for as Saturday night's game continued scoreless was for Málaga to push further forward in search of a winner to maintain its excellent home record and the push for Champions League status. But Simeone's Chilean counterpart on the Málaga bench, Manuel Pellegrini, has successfully put together a team that is happier when counterpunching. The home team put together the more attractive moves of the game, but the few near misses of the night were evenly shared and mostly from set pieces.

The new Atlético coach was determined that his defense, low on morale, would not end up chasing shadows, so the only task that really mattered was keeping the shape as defined on the locker room blackboard. Clarity on the ball, even within the counterattacking style "el Cholo" has said he wants his Atlético team to adopt, will have to wait. In any case, the 0-0 tie in La Rosaleda was only the second point Atlético has won on the road all season.

"My impression was of a team that had solidarity, character and clear scoring chances," an upbeat Simeone said after the match. "We played the game we wanted to play."

The fiery former Atlético midfielder has staunched the flow of blood from the team's wounds; now the challenge will be to stitch up some winning performances.

The circumstances were even direr, but new Real Zaragoza coach Manolo Jiménez would no doubt have been quietly thrilled to have earned a tidy little 0-0 in Santander earlier on Saturday evening. The game between the bottom two sides had a grim air of desperate need to it, even with more than half a league remaining. The two teams had scored just 24 goals in a combined 32 La Liga matches this season, although Racing had managed to attain some kind of unity and hard-earned points under its curious triumvirate on the bench, who took over after this season's starting coach, Héctor Cúper, bade farewell in November.

A goal by the defender Bernardo from a corner provided Racing with all three points and Jiménez with such a clear view of the task ahead that even the traditional optimism of a new coach seemed strained. "The situation of the team was patently on show: anxiety, hurriedness, doubts and stage fright. But there was no lack of effort or enthusiasm," the former Sevilla boss said.

To make matters worse for Jiménez, his former team lost Sunday's midday game 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano, allowing the Madrid squad to pull away from the relegation zone and leave Zaragoza even more exposed.

For top club Real Madrid, Karim Benzema and Mesut Özil were the stand-out players in a routine win over Granada, although the Andalusian team scarcely deserved to lose 5-1. Indeed, some wondered whether it was out of respect for the opposition that Cristiano Ronaldo pointedly refused to celebrate his goal, the last of the night. But rage against fortune and his own lack of precision at times are more likely to have fueled the Portuguese's ire. The win guaranteed Real would retain a clear lead over Barcelona, with the champion facing an uncomfortable start to the new year in Sunday night's derby game at Espanyol.

Other results: Levante 0-0 Mallorca; R. Sociedad 0-0 Osasuna; Getafe 0-0 Athletic; Villarreal 2-2 Valencia.