Huge win for Barcelona, Sevilla revival continues in La Liga

MADRID,

April 23 (Xinhua)

This season's La Liga title is all but assured to end up in FC Barcelona's trophy room after the leaders beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 on Sunday to maintain their 11-point lead at the top of the table.

There were doubts ahead of the game as Barca failed to score in their last three matches, and those doubts were only heightened when Antoine Griezmann chipped the ball against their crossbar in the first minute of the match.

However, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen in excellent form and Frenkie de Jong and Pedri both available for coach Xavi Hernandez, Barca were able to hold off a rival that had won 10 of their last 12 matches.

Ferran Torres scored the only goal of the game two minutes from halftime, with a powerful shot that Atletico keeper Jan Oblak will be disappointed not to have saved.

On Saturday, Real Madrid enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 win over Celta Vigo thanks to Marco Asensio's 42nd-minute strike from a Vinicius cross and Eder Militao's powerful header in the 48th minute.

Real Sociedad strengthened their position in fourth after fighting back to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1.

Betis slipped to a 3-2 defeat away to Osasuna, and are in danger of slipping out of the top-six after Athletic Club Bilbao made it three wins and a draw from their last four games with a comfortable 2-1 win away to struggling Almeria.

Athletic's win leaves them just a point behind sixth place Villarreal after the latter became Sevilla's third victim in a week, slipping to a 2-1 defeat in the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

Monchu's 24th-minute goal helped Valladolid make it six points from two games to move them five points clear of the bottom three with a 1-0 win at home to Girona.

Valencia claimed a vital win, but remain in the bottom three after first-half goals from Samuel Lino and a penalty from Gonzalo Verdu saw them win 2-0 away to bottom side Elche, who remain with 13 points all season.

Mallorca fought back form a goal down to beat Getafe 3-1, with two second-half goals from Lee Kang-in and Antonio Raillo overturning Borja Mayoral's first-half opener for the visitors, who are just one point above the bottom three.

Espanyol's survival hopes suffered a big blow on Friday night when they were held 0-0 at home to Cadiz in a direct duel to avoid the drop.

COURTESY: Xinhua

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