Off the wire
• Feature: What 70th Liberation Day means for Italians  • Official issues Rio 2016 sailing warning  • Bayern Munich move one step closer to third title in row  • Record numbers to run 35th London Marathon  • VW Group Chairman Ferdinand Piech resigns  • Thousands march in Portugal for national Freedom Day  • UK sends humanitarian experts to Nepal  • Finnish president expresses condolences to earthquake victims in Nepal  • 1st LD Writethru: UN chief sends condolences to quake-hit victims in Nepal  • Urgent: UN chief sends condolences to quake-hit victims in Nepal  
You are here: 　 Home

Big wins for Barca and Atletico in Spain

Xinhua, April 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

FC Barcelona took a huge step towards the conquest of the BBVA Primera Liga table on Saturday thanks to a 2-0 win away to local rivals, Espanyol.

Barca produced an excellent first 45 minutes football and took a 2-0 lead before the break thanks to excellent goals from Neymar and Leo Messi, who both finished off flowing team moves.

Things changed 10 minutes after the break when Jordi Alba was sent off by referee Mateu Lahoz and Espanyol tried to take the game to their rivals, however, they failed to create more than one chance to pressure Claudio Bravo in the Barca goal and the win never really looked in peril.

Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third place as Antoine Griezmann netted his third double in three weeks to given them a routine 3-0 win at home to Elche.

The visitors had traveled to Madrid with only 14 fit professionals but held on for 54 minutes before Griezmann opened the scoring and after Raul Garcia scored Atletico's second 10 minutes later the result was never in doubt.

Finally Levante took a vital 3 points in their battle against relegation as they won 1-0 away to Getafe thanks to a goal from Victor Casadesus.

On Friday Athletic Club Bilbao won 1-0 in Cordoba to virtually assure the home side to relegation which giving themselves a good chance of finishing in seventh place. Endite