Matchday 31 in Spain: good for Madrid, bad for Barca, Granada and Leganes

Matchday 31 in Spain turned out to be a good one for Real Madrid who extended their lead at the top of the Liga Santander on Saturday night despite being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby.

Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann finished off a pass from Angel Correa to give Atletico a point in the 85th minute after a game in which Real Madrid had more chances only to be denied by Atletico keeper, Jan Oblak.

Thanks mainly to Oblak, all Real had to show for their efforts was a 55th minute headed goal from Pepe, who later had to leave the pitch with two broken ribs and will be sidelined for a month.

Those two dropped points meant that FC Barcelona stepped out onto the pitch in Malaga with the destiny of the league title in their hands; however, 90 minutes later a terrible performance saw them lose 2-0 in the La Rosaleda and drop a further point off the top of the table.

Barca brought Jeremy Mathieu, Denis Suarez and Andres Gomes into the side and were second best to Malaga in a match in which referee Gil Manzano also made a series of important errors.

Former Barca striker Sandro Ramirez opened the scoring in the 32nd minute and things went from bad to worse for Barca as Neymar was sent off for two yellow cards, before Jony sealed Malaga's win in the last minute of the game.

Sevilla defeated Deportivo la Coruna 4-2 to close the gap on Atletico after a chaotic first half in the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

Stefan Jovetic scored for Sevilla in the first minute, only for former Sevilla forward, Gail Kakuta to equalize three minutes later. Pablo Sarabia reestablished Sevilla's lead in the ninth minute, and Kakuta again brought parity in the 25th minute.

However, after Joaquin Correa again put Sevilla ahead just after the half hour there was no way back for the visitors, although they tried to find an equalizer until Wassim Ben Yedder sealed Sevilla's first win in six games.

Eibar took advantage of Celta's squad rotations ahead of their Europa League quarter-final at home to Genk next Thursday to claim a 2-0 win in the Balaidos Stadium on Sunday.

Kike opened the scoring for Eibar with a low shot in the 13th minute of the game as Celta struggled to find any rhythm and Pedro Leon's 10th of the season early in the second half was enough to lift Eibar to an impressive sixth place in the table.

Also on Sunday, Valencia won 3-1 away to Granada to leave the home side rooted in the relegation zone with just 20 points from 31 matches. Simone Zaza netted in the 19th and 21st minutes to give Valencia a 2-goal cushion and Santi Mina's goal in the 55th minute sealed Valencia's win despite Ezequiel Ponce's consolation goal for Granada.

Leganes must have targeted their trip to face bottom of the table Osasuna as a chance to take three vital points as they battle to avoid relegation and things got off to a perfect start when Dimitrios Siovas gave them a 16th minute lead from a corner.

However, Sergio Leon produced a brilliant display with a 36th minute penalty and a 70th minute volley, to turn the game around and give Osasuna their first home win over the season and to keep Leganes deep in danger.

Saturday saw Pablo Piatti's goal give Espanyol a 1-0 win over Alaves, while Friday night saw Villarreal win 3-1 at home to Athletic Club Bilbao.

On Monday, Real Sociedad face Sporting Gijon. Endit