La Liga Matchday 18 – Sevilla put an end to Real Madrid’s 40 match unbeaten run to revive title race

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As they say in Spain, “hay Liga”, the league is on! With Real Madrid in imperious form as they went 40 games unbeaten and 284 days without defeat, with Atletico straggling behind and hoping to merely retain their top four place, and Barcelona struggling to manage their squad, it seemed that the league was almost already in the bag. That was until Sevilla had their say.

After an entertaining clash between Real Madrid and Sevilla in the Copa Del Rey in midweek set the tone and got the blood boiling, both sides came out on fire in a tactical battle full of technical ability in the first half. In the second, a penalty was given to allow Cristiano Ronald to give his side the lead despite avoiding a red card for throwing the ball at Sevilla winger Vitolo. Then, Sergio Ramos popped up with a crucial last minute header as has become customary… only in the wrong net. Stevan Jovetic came on for his La Liga debut and turned the result around with his 93rd minute strike from distance leaving Keylor Navas with no chance and to condemn Real Madrid to defeat for the first time in 41 games and to cut their lead to just one point with a game in hand.

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They couldn’t have picked a worse time to slip up either, as Barcelona were back to their best with a convincing 5-0 victory over Las Palmas at the Nou Camp, with even reject Aleix Vidal getting on the scoresheet for the club for the first time, leaving his team’s bench laughing. Lionel Messi also completed a remarkable record of having scored against every team he has ever faced in La Liga.

Atletico too kept up their pressure with a trademark Diego Simeone performance against Real Betis. Nico Gaitan gave his side the lead but the defensive display ensured that the home side at the Calderon looked comfortable in possession and without it. That helped them to stretch their lead in fourth place too, with both Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao drawing blanks to draw 0-0.

At the other end of the table, Valencia produced a shock to inch closer to safety by inflicting only Espanyol’s second defeat since September thanks to goals from Martin Montoya and Santi Mina, withstanding a late barrage from los Pericos after David Lopez brought his side back into the game with five minutes left on the clock.

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The bottom two also met this weekend as Granada welcomed Osasuna with the away side looking for their first win in 10 La Liga games. In a tense affair it looked as though the Pamplona side could do it when Oriol Riera gave them an early lead, but Artem Kravets equalised in the second half for Granada. Two sending offs for the home team in the final 20 minutes made it a heated end to the game but neither side could find a winner.

This weekend’s La Liga results in full:

C.D. Leganes S.A.D. 0-0 Athletic Bilbao

FC Barcelona 5-0 UD Las Palmas

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Real Betis

Deportivo A Coruna 0-0 Villarreal

Valencia 2-1 RCD Espanyol

Celta de Vigo 1-0 Deportivo Alaves

Sporting Gijon 2-3 SD Eibar

Granada 1-1 Osasuna

Sevilla 2-1 Real Madrid

Malaga vs Real Sociedad (Monday night)

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Gazete AK.