Atletico earlier eased to a 3-0 home win over Granada after Fernando
Torres grabbed his fourth goal in as many games with Koke and
substitute Angel Correa also got on the scoresheet.
Barcelona's Luis Suarez, Neymar and Messi react against Valencia.
Barcelona's stuttering title bid suffered another setback when they lost 2-1 at home to Valencia on Sunday, while Atletico Madrid moved level on points with the La Liga leaders after a comfortable win over Granda.
Shell-shocked
Barca have 76 points along with Atletico, who knocked the holders out
of the Champions League in midweek, and remain top only due to a
superior head-to-head record.
Atletico earlier
eased to a 3-0 home win over Granada after Fernando Torres grabbed his
fourth goal in as many games with Koke and substitute Angel Correa also
got on the scoresheet.
Real Madrid, whose coach
Zinedine Zidane said in February that the title race was over, thrashed
Getafe 5-1 away on Saturday and stand just one point behind the leading
pair,
An own goal by Barca midfielder Ivan Rakitic
put Valencia ahead after 27 minutes at the Nou Camp and Santi Mina
added a second just before halftime to stun the Barca supporters.
Lionel Messi scored
his 500th career goal to reduce the deficit after 64 minutes but the
struggling hosts, who have squandered a nine-point lead, could not find
an equaliser.
Despite Barcelona registering a
third successive league defeat for the first time since 2003, Luis
Enrique remained upbeat about his team’s chances of winning the title.
“We’ve got a marvellous challenge, if we win the five games remaining we will be champions,” he told a news conference.
“Of
course, our credit has run out and we are aware of the challenge. We’re
going to approach it like a Barca player always does, with our heads
held high.”
TOUGHER TIME
Barca
humiliated a Valencia side coached by Gary Neville 7-0 in a King’s Cup
semi-final game in February but had a much tougher time against
successor Pako Ayesteran’s side and went behind when Guilherme
Siqueira’s cross bounced off Rakitic and beyond Claudio Bravo.
Barcelona
forwards Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar each had efforts saved by the
impressive Diego Alves, but Valencia continued to cause the home side
problems on the break.
Santi Mina increased the
visiting side’s advantage just before halftime, receiving a pass from
Dani Parejo and beating Bravo at the far post with a powerful driven
effort.
Messi turned in a low cross from Jordi
Alba to end a drought of five games without scoring and net his 500th
career goal, but a second proved elusive for the hosts.
Valencia's
Alves produced a spectacular save to deny Rakitic late on and Barca
defender Gerard Pique agonisingly missed the target at the near post in
stoppage time.
"We were better than Valencia
in every aspect apart from effectiveness. We’ve dropped three points
that we could have taken fairly but football is like that,” added Luis Enrique.
IDEAL START
Atletico,
boosted by a 2-0 Champions League second-leg win over Barca on
Wednesday which put them into the semi-finals, got off to an ideal start
against struggling Granada when Koke drilled a loose ball into the net
on 15 minutes.
Granada winger Ruben Rochina hit
the post later in the half before Torres eased Atletico's nerves by
notching the second, latching onto a threaded pass by Koke to lift the
ball over goalkeeper Andres Fernandez and into the far corner.
Argentine
forward Correa came on to replace Atletico's top scorer Antoine
Griezmann and made the most of his cameo appearance by racing onto a
pass from Saul Niguez down the left and tucking the ball into the far
bottom corner.
Atletico will be without suspended
captain Gabi for their trip to Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday, while Pique
is banned for Barca’s visit to Deportivo La Coruna.
“We have the chance to put in a big performance in Bilbao next week and keep competing in the four games we have left,’ Atletico coach Diego Simeone said.
“It will be hard, but we will do what the fixture list demands and asks of us: win, win and win.”
Elsewhere
on Sunday, Sevilla drew 1-1 at home to Deportivo La Coruna, Athletic
Bilbao won 1-0 at Malaga to move up to fifth, and Rayo Vallecano moved
five points clear of the relegation zone after beating fourth-placed
Villarreal 2-1.
إرسال تعليق