The 29th match that Atletico Madrid played did not go smoothly, sharing points with Espanyol is a loss because it will leave a gap between positions 1 and 2 if Madrid wins today match, automatically Atletico Madrid has retreated a little from the title hunt this season. They are now 6 points behind Barcelona and 3 points behind Real Madrid. Let's see if the real Madrid will have an unlucky day too or they will get a win at home.
I think Atletico Madrid have missed their chance this season. Even though they still have 9 games left, but it's hard to catch Barcelona if they keep playing like this. They did indeed look more dominant in the match against Espanyol and they even had a lot of chances, but unfortunately, they wasted too many of those chances and only had 2 shots on target. Never mind Barcelona, I don't think they will even be able to catch Real Madrid. If Real Madrid gets a win against Leganes, then they will be 6 points away, which is a pretty tough gap to overcome with Atletico's current level of form.
It is certain that Atletico Madrid's La Liga title hunt this season has failed. This draw extends their current slump, in the last four matches they lost to Getafe, were eliminated from the UCL by Real Madrid after that lost to Barcelona and now drew against Espanyol. Even in the last two matches they seemed to have no more motivation, after winning, the opponent managed to make a comeback. This proves that they have not fully recovered psychologically from the painful defeat to Real Madrid.
Atletico's current hope is only in the Copa del Rey, but this will also be very difficult because they have to face Barcelona who we currently see are on fire. So it is unlikely that Atletico Madrid can beat Barcelona in the second leg because Atletico Madrid's current problem is their mentality which has not fully recovered.