While Villarreal enjoyed an impressive 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid - the goal scored by Leo Baptistao against his parent club - Real dropped points and Barca lost their leading light Lionel Messi for up to eight weeks.
Barca sealed a 2-1 win over Las Palmas, briefly replacing Real at the summit after they were held to a goalless draw at the Bernabeu by 10-man Malaga.
But the loss of Messi, who took an early blow during a collision with Pedro Bigas and is now expected to be out for up to eight weeks with knee ligament damage, made it a bittersweet day.
Luis Suarez's double was enough to secure the points for Barca at the Nou Camp, with Jonathan Viera's deflected goal late on reducing the margin.
Real will wonder how they failed to put away Malaga, having had 31 attempts on goal and two strikes disallowed, one from Cristiano Ronaldo in the eighth minute and one from Isco in stoppage time.
The door appeared to open for them when Nordin Amrabat was dismissed with 13 minutes still to play, but Rafael Benitez's side could not beat visiting goalkeeper Carlos Kameni.
In the late kick-off, Celta Vigo forward Iago Aspas - just three days after helping thrash Barca - salvaged a 1-1 draw for his side at Eibar.
Aspas netted twice in the unexpected 4-1 win over the defending champions on Wednesday and climbed off the bench to rescue a point at the Municipal de Ipurua after Borja Baston had given the hosts a third-minute lead.
Also on Saturday, Yevhen Konoplyanka's first league goal for Sevilla earned them a 3-2 victory against Rayo Vallecano, lifting Unai Emery's team off the foot of the table.
Sevilla looked to be coasting to their first domestic win of the season as they led at the break courtesy of goals from Kevin Gameiro and Steven N'Zonzi, but Bebe and Javi Guerra struck to wipe out their two-goal lead.
Antonio Amaya's red card gave the hosts the advantage again and substitute Konoplyanka, signed from Ukrainian club Dnipro in the summer, capitalised with four minutes remaining.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the comment writers alone and does not reflect or represent the views of Ochuko Arhiakpore.
+2348176236720
Leave a comment