La Liga Matchday 20 – Barcelona robbed as only one of top four win

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Barcelona can have every reason to feel aggrieved after some appalling refereeing saw them held to a point at the Estadio Benito Villamarin. Lacklustre for much of the game, Real Betis’ opener sparked them back into life and they should have had an equaliser when Neymar was wrestled to the floor as a ball came into the box only for the ball to be cleared from almost two yards past the line, to bounce up off the crossbar and out. Bizarrely, none of the officials spotted it and they were reliant upon Luis Suarez’s injury time strike to rescue a point.

Sevilla too can feel frustrated as refereeing cost them dear as they fell to defeat in Barcelona against Espanyol. Captain Nicolas Pareja was controversially sent off after just over a minute at the RCDE Stadium with a penalty given to los Pericos. Whilst a clear foul, it seemed a harsh red and despite their best efforts the second placed team couldn’t cope with being a man down. Jose Antonio Reyes scored from the spot and Stevan Jovetic equalised for Jorge Sampaoli’s team, but goals from Marcos Navarro and Gerard Moreno gave the home team the victory.

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Real Madrid though did not allow anything to stand in their way as they eventually broke down an in-form Real Sociedad side. Goals from Mateo Kovacic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata saw them sweep away the challenge and extend their lead at the top of the table to four points with a game in hand as the title already looks almost secured for Zinedine Zidane’s team.

Atletico had less luck as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Alaves, who memorably secured a 1-1 draw at the Calderon deep in injury time in the reverse fixture. Alaves defended well throughout and Atleti failed to make the breakthrough, and with just one point keeping them in the top four, Diego Simeone will need his side to start turning draws into wins.

The pressure on Atleti is growing more than ever, as both Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao secured impressive victories over the weekend, with the Yellow Submarine easily seeing off a poor Granada team languishing at the bottom of the table and with Athletic mounting a second half comeback to defeat Sporting Gijon, themselves third from bottom.

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At the other end of the table, Valencia’s recovery was put in doubt again as they capitulated despite Santi Mina giving them an early lead at Las Palmas. That said, they are still six points clear of the drop zone.

Elsewhere, Leganes once again looked like they could be dragged into the relegation fight. A 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo makes it eight games without a win for them in La Liga, whilst even Malaga could be dragged in as their poor form continued as they failed to beat Osasuna at home.

This weekend’s results in full:

Osasuna 1-1 Malaga

Villarreal 2-0 Granada

Alaves 0-0 Atlético Madrid

Eibar 3-1 Deportivo A Coruña

Leganés 0-2 Celta Vigo

Real Betis 1-1 Barcelona

Espanyol 3-1 Sevilla

Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Sporting Gijón

Real Madrid 3-0 Real Sociedad

Las Palmas 3-1 Valencia

Featured Image: All rights reserved by VAVEL España.