News Archive

Match round-up - First Division, Day 32

Atlético Madrid stay eleven points below leaders Barcelona after a comfortable 3-0 win over Levante on Sunday. Correa and Griezmann put them two up with strikes either side of the break, and Fernando Torres came on to score the third (his 100th goal in the league) just a few days after he announced he would be leaving the club this summer. Real Madrid took advantage of Valencia’s defeat to move up to third after they beat Málaga 1-2 later in the evening. Zidane rested Ronaldo, Bale and others after their Champions League tie, but Isco opened the scoring against his old side, and Casemiro made it two before Rolan got a late consolation in injury time. Málaga stay well adrift at the bottom, and they will be mathematically relegated if they lose at Levante in the upcomnig round of midweek games. Elsewhere Alavés beat neighbours Eibar 0-1, Guidetti scoring early on to take Abelardo’s team up to mid-table, and Getafe won 1-0 against Espanyol, Damian Suárez the scorer to keep the locals in with an outside chance of a place in Europe next season. (15.04.18)

League leaders Barcelona bounced back from their surprise Champions League defeat with a 2-1 win over third placed Valencia on Saturday afternoon. Luis Suárez got the opener early on from Coutinho’s pass, and Umtiti headed the second from a Coutinho corner at the start of the second half. Dani Parejo pulled one back from the penalty spot with three minutes to go, but the Ches couldn’t prevent their rivals from setting a new record of 39 league games without defeat. The top four are now twelve points clear of the rest though, Sevilla and Villarreal losing more ground after a 2-2 draw in the early kick-off. Goals either side of half time by Raba and Bacca put the visitors two up but, with both teams down to ten men, Nolito and N’Zonzi scored twice late on to keep the Andalusians a point behind their opponents in seventh place. Celta meanwhile stay down in ninth spot after they lost 1-0 at Leganés, Guerrero getting the only goal after the break to all but mathematically ensure another season in the top flight for the Madrid based side. Further down the table Deportivo kept their hopes of survival alive with a 2-3 victory at Athletic Bilbao, Adrián López getting two there early on, but Las Palmas are now ten points away from safety after they lost 0-1 to Real Sociedad, Oyarzabal the scorer to give caretaker coach Imanol his second win in a row. (14.04.18).

Betis are on track for a place in the Europa League this season, and they consolidated fifth spot with a 0-1 victory at direct rivals Girona on Friday night. Loren got the only goal after the break following a good run by Joaquín to make it five wins in a row for the Andalusians. (13.04.18)