Off the wire
• News analysis: Europe poised to fight terrorism, solutions remain elusive  • Australian dollar slips below 78 U.S. cents  • 2nd LD Writethru: Australia's Liberal Party leadership vote retains Abbott as PM but in precarious position  • Roundup: Germany tries to play greater role in int'l affairs  • 1st LD: Australia's Liberal Party leadership vote retains Abbott as PM but in precarious position  • Urgent: Australia's Liberal Party defeats spill motion, Abbott remains prime minister  • FLASH: AUSTRALIA'S LIBERAL PARTY DEFEATS SPILL MOTION, ABBOTT REMAINS PRIME MINISTER  • BAFTA film awards celebrates off-beat with 'Boyhood' triumphing  • Turkey says G20 set to overcome social unrests  • 1st LD: At least 22 Egyptian soccer fans killed in clashes with police  
You are here: 　 Home

Gamie on in La Liga as Barca win and Atletioc defeat Real Madrid

Xinhua, February 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid blew the race for the BBVA Primera Liga wide open this weekend in Spain.

Sunday night saw Barca defeat Athletic Club Bilbao 5-2 in the San Mames Stadium with one of their best performances of the season to move to within one point of Real Madrid in the race for the title.

Barca now know that whether or not they win the league title is in their own hands and they no longer need a favor from other sides in order to finish top of the table.

Leo Messi, Luis Suarez and Oscar de Marcos' own goal, plus strikes from Neymar and Pedro Rodriquez scored for Barca, while Mikel Rico and Aritz Aduriz scored for the Basque side, who had Xavi Etxeita sent off in the second half.

The league had leapt into life on Saturday afternoon when Atletico Madrid stunned neighbours, Real Madrid in the Vicente Calderon Stadium, inflicting a 4-0 defeat on the league leaders, who had not lost to their neighbours by such a margin since 1987.

Atletico were best in everything and led 2-0 at halftime thanks to goals from Tiago Cardoso and Saul, who scored a spectacular overhead kick.

Real Madrid looked sluggish and lifeless and were second best in every challenge as Atletico maintained their dominance into the second half, adding to the score with further goals from Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic to send the 55,000 fans in the Calderon wild with delight.

Sevilla wasted a fine chance to secure fourth place as they lost 2-1 away to Getafe with Pedro Leon scoring the winning goal in the 85th minute. That defeat allowed Valencia to move into fourth place thanks to a 2-1 win away to Espanyol.

Pablo Piatti and an own goal from Pau Lopez put Valencia two up before Sergio Garcia scored a last minute goal to give the home side a chance of snatching a late equalizer.

Meanwhile Villarreal maintained their challenge for a top-four finish thanks to a comfortable 2-0 win at home to struggling Granada with goals from Musacchio and Gerard Moreno to set them up for Wednesday' s King' s Cup semi-final against Barca.

Levante took a vital 4-1 win at home to Malaga to lift themselves off the bottom of the table. Striker David Barral scored a hat-trick to become the hero for his side.

Meanwhile Almeria took an important 2-1 away win away to local rivals Cordoba in a game between direct rivals to avoid the drop. Two goals in five minutes from Almeria right back Michel helped overturn an opening goal from Cordoba' s Fede Cartabria.

Saturday also saw Real Sociedad draw 1-1 at home to Celta Vigo. Imanol Agirretxe' s first half goal looked to have secured the points for his side only for Nolito to assure his side took something from the game with an 85th minute equalizer. Endi