Atletico Madrid’s title challenge suffered another setback as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Levante on Saturday.
The result, coupled with Real Madrid’s 1-0 win at Real Valladolid, sees Atletico’s lead at the top of La Liga cut to three points with a game in hand when just two weeks ago it looked as if they were running away with the league.
Atletico and Levante had drawn 1-1 in Valencia in midweek, so the surprise was no excuse for Atletico as they once again found it hard to break Paco Lopez’s well-drilled side, and Atletico’s tactic of using three central defenders with Marcos Llorente as a wing-back didn’t work, although Llorente was probably Atletico’s best player, Xinhua news reports.
Levante had a big stroke of luck as Jose Luis Morales opened the scoring after the ball deflected off two Atletico defenders.
Luis Suarez saw a free-kick bounce back off the post, but Atletico looked flat, and after Jan Oblak had gone forward for a corner in injury-time, Jorge Frutos was able to advance into space and put the ball into an empty net to seal an excellent win for Levante.
Casemiro’s 65th-minute header decided a tight game for an injury-hit Real Madrid in Valladolid, where Thibaut Courtois kept Madrid in the game with a series of excellent saves. Mariano Diaz had two goals ruled out for offside in the first half.
Manu Vallejo’s 94th-minute goal gifted Valencia a much-needed home win over Celta Vigo, who had to play with 10 men for almost half an hour after keeper Ruben Blanco was sent off for a foul outside the box.
Kevin Gameiro sealed all three points in Valencia’s late show when he netted their second goal in the eighth minute of injury-time.
Fran Escriba enjoyed a winning return as coach of Elche after leading the La Liga strugglers to a 1-0 victory at home to Eibar, who are also now firmly locked in a battle to avoid relegation.
Dani Calvo’s 33rd-minute goal in what was Elche’s only clear chance decided the game as Eibar failed to threaten after the break.
Borja Iglesias’ late penalty kept Real Betis’s charge for a top-six finish on track as they beat Getafe 1-0.
Getafe has now lost five of their last six games in which they have netted just once, as they continue to slide towards the relegation zone.
