La Liga Week 22 round-up: Real Madrid maintain seven-point advantage as Sevilla defeat leads to Marcelino’s dismissal
Osasuna and Getafe were the only sides in the top half of the Spanish Primera Division to change position through the weekend as Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Levante and Malaga all failed to collect victories and shake up the race for European places, whilst Real Madrid held onto their seven point lead at the top of the league.
Bilbao and Espanyol shared the spoils in an exhilarating encounter which ended 3-3. Marcelo Bielsa’s side went ahead on 26 minutes through Oscar De Marcos before goals from Romaric and Vladimir Weiss saw the visitors take the lead. Fernando Llorente equalised for los Leones with his ninth goal in seven games, before Javi Martinez restored Bilbao’s lead and looked to have sealed the three points until Juan Albin smashed one in off the bar in the last minute to see the sides share the spoils.
Levante had the opportunity to pile pressure on Valencia in third and gain an advantage over fifth placed Espanyol as they met struggling Racing Santander. But the Granotas couldn’t hold on to the first-half lead given them by Arouna Kone. Manuel Rodriguez met a poor clearance with a shot from the edge of the area which rolled into the bottom corner to cancel out the Ivorian’s opener.
Valencia travelled to the Vicente Calderon looking to end Atletico Madrid’s four game unbeaten league run and prevent the gap between themselves and Barcelona from growing. Both sides created several chances throughout the 90 minutes but failed to put their opponents’ shot-stopper under any real pressure and had to settle for a point each.
Malaga passed up the chance to break into the top six on Monday night as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Granada. Jose Salomon Rondon cancelled out Odion Ighalo goal but the Rojiblancos regained the lead with less than 10 minutes left through Inigo Lopez to claim the points.
Real Madrid maintained their lead over arch rivals Barcelona as they earned a1-0 victory over Getafe thanks to a first-half header from Sergio Ramos. The Blaugrana made sure they didn’t fall further behind los Blancos as they defeated Real Sociedad 2-1. Cristian Tello gave the Spanish champions the lead inside the first 10 minutes before Lionel Messi ran onto a Dani Alves chipped ball and knocked it past Sociedad keeper Claudio Bravo. Carlos Vela pulled one back for the Txuri-urdin with 15 minutes remaining but the visitors could not draw level.
Osasuna leap-frogged Getafe into ninth place with a 1-1 draw away to Sporting Gijon and Mallorca defeated Real Betis 1-0 to climb up to 13th place.
Villarreal lifted themselves out of the relegation zone on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Sevilla. The defeat extended the Rojiblancos’ winless streak to seven league games and ultimately led to the dismissal of Coach Marcelino Garcia Toral. The Yellow Submarine now sit 17th and are one point above third bottom side Racing Santander.
Real Zaragoza remain rooted to the bottom of the table after losing 2-1 to Rayo, despite taking the lead in the first-half. Helder Postiga put Zaragoza ahead shortly after the half-hour mark with a fantastic overhead kick but the visitors kicked into gear for the final quarter of an hour and won the game with goals from Diego Costa and Michu
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