Atletico go joint top in Spain as Real Madrid suffer another defeat

Atletico Madrid moved joint top of the Spanish BBVA Primera Liga on Sunday after a narrow 2-1 win at home to Athletic Club Bilbao.

Diego Simeone's side took advantage of Barca's slip-up at home to Deportivo la Coruna as a result of a poor performance in which they fell behind to their visitors, who outplayed them for much of the match.

Aymeric Laporte put Athletic ahead midway through the first half, but Yannick Carrasco leveled for Athletic almost 30 seconds after the referee should have blown the halftime whistle.

Antoine Griezmann then scored a goal out of nothing midway through the second half and his side held on as the visitors pressed for an equalizer until the end.

Real Madrid were unable to pressure Barca after another disappointing display saw them lose 1-0 away to Villarreal, who won despite several players out through injury.

An eighth minute goal from former Madrid striker Roberto Soldado, who had not scored through August, was enough to hand Madrid another reality check which is sure to increase the pressure on Rafael Benitez.

Barcelona had given their rivals the chance to close the gap after seriously taking their eye off the ball on Saturday night as they allowed Deportivo la Coruna to come back from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw in the Camp Nou Stadium.

Although they were way below their best on the eve of flying out to Japan for the World Club Championship, Barca went ahead through a Leo Messi free kick after 39 minutes.

When Ivan Rakitic scored a 25-yard shot with just over 30 minutes remaining it looked to be all over, but two dreadful defensive errors allowed first Lucas Perez, to score his sixth goal in six games and then Alex Berganitinos to net what had looked like an unlikely equalizer.

Gary Neville's Primera Liga debut as Valencia coach got off to a rocky start following his sides exit from the Champions League on Wednesday.

Valencia were lucky to be only 1-0 down to a first half goal from Sergi Enrique away to Eibar and the smallest club in the league should have sealed the win only for Saul Berjon to see his penalty saved by visiting keeper, Jaume, before an unlucky own goal gave a late equalizer for Valencia in a game none of their players managed a shot on target and which ended with both sides reduced to 10 men following red cards to Ivan Ramis and Lucas Orban were both sent off.

Celta Vigo's good start continued thanks to an Iago Apses goal which gave them a 1-0 win at home to Espanyol, while Sevilla's recovery also continues apace as Kevin Gameiro hit two goals, one of which was a slightly soft penalty, in their 2-0 win at home to Sporting Gijon.

Malaga's first two away goals of the season were enough to give their first away win of the campaign as they came back from Javi Guerra's opening goal to win 2-1 to Rayo Vallecano thanks to goals from Charles and Con, who scored the winner with less than four minutes on the cross.

Rayo wasted chances to have won the game themselves, but have now lost their last three matches and have slipped into deep trouble.

Granada won a relegation battle away to bottom of the table, Levante 2-1 thanks to two goals from Adalberto Penaranda, while Las Palmas also claimed a valuable home win when they defeated Betis 1-0 with a 92nd minute goal from William Jose. Endi