Barça go five clear at the top as Madrid suffer shock defeat to La Real
Lionel Messi scored his 399th La Liga goal and Luis Suárez netted a volley as BARCELONA moved five points clear at the top with a 2-1 success at GETAFE. Messi opened the scoring after 20 minutes, slotting home from a tight angle, and Suárez doubled the advantage six minutes before the break with a stinging shot from the edge of the area. Jaime Mata reduced the deficit for Getafe four minutes later, while Jorgé Molina missed an open goal for the home team just after the restart. Messi passed up a glorious opportunity to add some gloss to the win 15 minutes from time when through oneon-one, only to side-foot his attempt at the goalkeeper.
SEVILLA and ATLÉTICO MADRID shared the points in a bad-tempered 1-1 draw at the Sánchez Pizjuán. Sevilla came closest to opening the scoring in the first half when Jan Oblak pushed an André Silva drive onto a post, but seconds later Jesús Navas pulled the ball back for Daniel Carrico and his mishit shot found Wissam Ben Yedder, who poked home. Even so, Atleti drew level on the stroke of halftime as Antoine Griezmann steered the ball over the defensive wall to beat Tomas Vaclik. The second half produced no goals and was spoiled by a total of 11 yellow cards.
REAL SOCIEDAD piled the pressure on REAL MADRID boss Santiago Solari with a surprise 2-0 win at the Santiago Bernabéu. La Real got off to the perfect start on two minutes when Willian José scored from the spot after Casemiro had brought down Mikel Merino. Los Blancos reacted quickly, despite the jeers and whistles from the crowd, and almost scored as a Lucas Vázquez’s curling shot struck Gerónimo Rulli’s post. But it became tougher for Solari’s men on the hour when Vázquez fouled Merino and was shown a second yellow card. Vinicius Junior looked to have earned a penalty when tripped by Rulli, only for VAR to rule otherwise, but the San Sebastián side finally put the result beyond doubt in the 83rd minute as substitute Rubén Pardo headed in Willian’s lofted through ball.
VILLARREAL remain in relegation trouble despite a 0-0 draw away to EIBAR. It was a match the Basques dominated from start to finish and the Yellow Submarine had goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo to thank for a number of vital saves to keep them level. The stopper produced a brilliant effort to deny a drive from Charles on 52 minutes, although Villarreal could have snatched an undeserved win late on when Santi Cazorla’s attempt was thwarted by a fine block from Eibar keeper Asier Riesgo.
ALAVÉS’s impressive season continued as they climbed into a Champions League spot after coming from behind to beat VALENCIA 2-1 at Mendizorrotza. Dani Parejo gave the visitors the lead with a stunning free-kick in the 14th minute. Nonetheless, seven minutes later the hosts found an equaliser as Mouctar Diakhaby failed to clear a corner and it fell to Guillermo Maripán, whose shot hit Borja Bastón and beat Neto. Valencia created a number of opportunities after that but fell behind just before the half-time whistle, winger Jony crossing towards the far post for Tomás Pina to fire home and hand the Vitoria side what proved to be the winner.
An early Borja Iglesias header was enough to give ESPANYOL a 1-0 home win over LEGANÉS, halting the Catalan outfit’s six-game losing streak. The Madrid side were left to rue Jonathan Silva’s left-footed shot just before the break, which hit the bar from a tight angle, and Iglesias’s header after a long-range shot from David López had thundered back off the bar secured Espanyol the points. Leganés rallied towards the end but their efforts came to nothing as midfielder Gerard Gumbau was sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card.
Ten-man LEVANTE fought back to draw 2-2 at home to GIRONA. The Catalans took the lead with their first attack on the Levante goal on the halfhour mark, Portu turning the ball past Oier Olazábal, but the home team responded after the interval when José Luis Morales’ low finish beat Bono in the Girona goal. Levante then had Sergio Postigo sent off 20 minutes from time for a last-ditch tackle, with Alex García converting the resulting freekick to make it 2-1. But the Valenciabased side were not done and equalised with four minutes remaining as Coke got on the end of a José Campana cross to earn a draw.
Bottom of the table HUESCA produced a shock as they beat high-flying REAL BETIS 2-1 at El Alcoraz. Los Béticos took the lead from the penalty spot 10 minutes into the second period courtesy of Antonio Sanabria, who then conceded possession on 73 minutes allowing Huesca to equalise through David Ferreiro. Just six minutes later the hosts went ahead as Christian Rivera netted, and held on to record a vital victory in their quest for La Liga survival.
ATHLETIC BILBAO gave their survival hopes a boost by beating CELTA VIGO 2-1 at Balaídos to move out of the bottom three. Iker Muniain handed Los Leones the lead after 19 minutes when scoring from an Iñaki Williams cross, but Celta restored parity with the last kick of the first half as Fran Beltrán fired in from close range at the far post.
And it was Williams who helped ensure all three points for Athletic as he beat Rubén Blanco in the Celta goal, following Iago Herrerin’s long ball forward.
Struggling RAYO VALLECANO clinched a welcome three points after seeing off REAL VALLADOLID 1-0 at the Estadio José Zorrilla. The only goal of the game was scored by Álvaro Medrán inside the first minute, the quickest in the league this season, as he made no mistake slotting past Jordi Masip following an excellent Adri Embarba pass. But it was left to Rayo keeper Stole Dimitrievski to seal the win as he saved from Michel’s 85th minute penalty.