The headlines on the morning of Spanish football were dominated by Real Madrid’s exit and Barcelona’s win over the defender

Your Spanish soccer morning hits the headlines for Thursday December 24th.

Burgess leaves Madrid

Paul Burgess has been groundsman at Real Madrid for the past 12 years but he finally has time for his club.

The Englishman came to the Spanish capital from Arsenal in 2009 and has conditioned the seats at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and Valdebebas for the past 12 seasons.

Barca beat Madrid and Atleti against Araujo

Barcelona secured the signing of Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo from the Boston River, who is based in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, in 2017 for a reported fee of € 1.7 million.

Ronald Araujo

Now it has turned out, however, that Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid were both in the running for the central defender who has become a regular starter at Camp Nou.

In quotes from Marca, the player’s former coach Sergio Cabrera in Uruguay claimed Ramon Planes had accelerated the signing of the contract to beat competition from the club’s two rivals.

La Liga table set for Christmas

Real Madrid improved again this Christmas with Atletico Madrid at the top of the league after beating Granada on Wednesday.

Real Madrid win against Granada

It is the first time since Sevilla in 2006 that teams other than Madrid or Barcelona have topped the table at Christmas.

Real Betis and Alaves recorded home wins against Cadiz and Eibar to end the table before Christmas.

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