There has been nothing to separate Atletico Madrid and Sporting Gijon as a scrappy first half in their La Liga clash at Estadio Vicente Calderon ended goalless.
Atletico came into the match on an unbeaten run spanning six matches since September 30, but they drew last weekend in La Liga and against Astana in the Champions League in midweek and though they monopolised possession early on they were unable to carve out any genuine chances.
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Yannick Carrasco fired wide after exchanging passes with Jackson Martinez as Diego Simeone's side pinned the visitors back in their own half, and the home fans wanted a penalty when the ball appeared to hit the hand of Bernardo Espinosa.
Sporting were forced into two early substitutions as both Sergio Alvarez and Miguel Angel Guerrero hobbled off the field inside the first 25 minutes as a quiet game became even more disjointed, with several inviting crosses from the hosts failing to find a telling touch in the penalty area.
The first big chance of the match arrived 10 minutes before the break but it was the visitors who were denied an opening goal by a fine save from Jan Oblak, as the Slovenian goalkeeper leapt to his right to keep out Alen Halilovic's strike.
The half continued to be broken up by niggly fouls and stoppages as the teams went into the break scoreless.
Tom Nightingale
