Barcelona and the two Madrid giants all won well in midweek to set up a grandstand finish to La Liga.
Los Blancos survived their derby clash with brave Leganes while Barcelona heaped misery on pretenders Sevilla. And Atletico Madrid is third after beating Real Sociedad, though not as easily as football betting pundits widely expected.
Leganes 2-4 Real Madrid
Few other than diehard Leganes fans will have rushed to the betting websites to bet online on a home win here. But the smallest club in the league pushed one of the biggest all the way. Fighting back from a three goal deficit as Alvaro Morata scored twice Leganes made it 2-3 at the break. A Martin Mantovani own goal settled Los Blancos’ nerves but Leganes still has a five point cushion to the drop.
Barcelona 3-0 Sevilla
Barca kicked off two hours earlier and briefly took top spot having beaten rapidly fading Sevilla. Luis Suarez opened the scoring with a spectacular finish before Messi struck twice to finish off the visitors before the break. Vitolo saw red in injury time to make it a miserable night for Jorge Sampaoli.
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Real Sociedad
Defender Filipe Luis scored for the second time in as many games to decide a tight encounter and give Atletico a fifth win on the bounce. Diego Simeone’s men are in good shape and three points ahead of Sevilla, but Sociedad drop to seventh after a fourth winless game.
Real Betis 0-1 Villarreal
The Yellow Submarine moved up to take Sociedad’s place in fifth after a welcome return to winning ways. Adrian scored early in the second half to erase the memory of two consecutive defeats; but it was another blow for Real Betis who had lost to a late Espanyol goal at the weekend.
Athletic Club 2-0 Espanyol
No such comeback for Espanyol this time as Athletic Club also leapfrogged Sociedad into sixth place, thanks to a first half double from prolific striker Aritz Aduriz. That’s six wins in the last seven home games for the Bilbao team.
Alaves 0-1 Osasuna
Osasuna sprung the surprise of the week by inflicting a second defeat on Alaves who were unlucky to lose by three goals to Real Madrid at the weekend. They certainly wouldn’t have expected another loss but substitute Alex Berenguer struck on 88 minutes to take the bottom club up to 14 points.
Deportivo La Coruna 0-0 Granada
Deportivo inched another point closer to safety, now six clear of the drop, after a goalless draw. But it could have been so much better had Celso Borges not missed a first half penalty. That’s the first point on the road for Granada in seven games.
Sporting Gijon 0-1 Malaga
18th placed Sporting missed a glorious chance to climb within two points of safety against a Malaga team which has been in dreadful form. But these things always happen don’t they? Sandro Ramirez struck in the first half to ruin Sporting’s night.
Eibar 3-1 Las Palmas
Eibar stay eighth and in touch of a Europa place, continuing a nice run of form with a comfortable win over Las Palmas. Bebe struck on 14 minutes and the lead was doubled when Aythami Artiles put through his own net before the break. Mauricio Lemos pulled one back on 62 but Adrian Gonzalez sealed the points four minutes later.
Valencia 3-2 Celta Vigo
Carlos Soler hit an 86th minute winner to settle this five goal thriller. Daniel Wass had crossed for Gustavo Cabral to head home in the 16th minute to put the visitors ahead; but goals from Daniel Parejo and Munir seemed to have given Valencia a nice home win until Iago Aspas converted an 80th minute penalty for Celta. Then Soler sent the Mestalla crowd wild.
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