Griezmann leads Atletico to victory

Eliminated from the Champions League, Sevilla's challenge for the Spanish league title appears almost over following a 3-1 loss at Atletico Madrid yesterday.

A third round without a win left Sevilla in third place and seven points behind leader Real Madrid, which also has a game in hand.

The defeat at Atletico came five days after Sevilla failed to protect a 2-1 first-leg advantage and was eliminated from the Champions League Round of 16 after losing 2-0 at Leicester.

"After you have a very difficult loss and you play against one of the best teams in Spain, you are vulnerable, and we paid for it today," Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaoli said. "We have to pull ourselves together for the last 10 rounds and find the path we were on."

Atletico closed to within two points of Sevilla after Antoine Griezmann steered it to a third straight victory.

The France forward first crossed the ball for Diego Godin to head home in the 36th minute before Griezmann scored from a free kick taken well outside the area in the 61st.

The goal was Griezmann's fifth in a four-round scoring run and took his tally to 14 in the competition and 22 overall this season.

Jorge "Koke" Resurreccion put the result beyond doubt in the 77th before Sevilla got a consolation goal from Joaquin Correa with six minutes to play.

In a match-up of two of the league's most respected coaches, Diego Simeone came out on top over fellow Argentine Sampaoli.

Atletico lost defender Sime Vrsaljko to a left-knee injury in the opening minutes of the match.

In the evening match Barcelona struggled to beat 10-man Valencia 4-2, with Lionel Messi scoring a brace, one from the penalty spot.

Luis Suarez opend the score for Barca and Gomes sealed the issue with the fourth goal on 90 minutes.

PW D L F A Pts Real Madrid 27 20 5 2 71 28 65 Barcelona 28 19 6 3 81 25 63 Sevilla 28 17 6 5 52 34 57 Atl. Madrid 28 16 7 5 52 23 55 Villarreal 28 13 9 6 39 20 48 Real Sociedad 28 15 3 10 42 39 48 Ath Bilbao 28 13 5 10 35 32 44 Eibar 28 11 8 9 44 39 41 Espanyol 28 10 10 8 40 39 40 Alaves 28 10 10 8 29 33 40 Celta Vigo 27 11 5 11 40 45 38 Las Palmas 28 9 8 11 44 45 35 Betis 28 8 7 13 31 44 31 Valencia 28 8 6 14 38 51 30 Malaga 28 6 9 13 33 45 27 Deportivo 28 6 9 13 31 43 27 Leganes 28 6 8 14 22 41 26 Gijon 28 5 6 17 31 57 21 Granada CF 28 4 7 17 25 58 19 Osasuna 28 1 8 19 28 67 11