Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-1 in a thrilling encounter at the Spotify Camp Nou last night thanks to goals from Sergi Roberto and Frank Kessie.
Real Madrid got the opening goal early in the ninth minute, an own goal by Ronald Araujo, but Barcelona equalised through Sergi Roberto just before halftime.
Ivorian international Frank Kessie came on in the 77th minute and struck in the second minute of added time to rescue the win for Barcelona. Barcelona now have 68 points from 26 matches, 12 points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga and at this point, the odds to win the title are in their favour.
Atletico Madrid put three past struggling Valencia to keep themselves safe in third, but this worsened Valencia’s fight from relegation as they remained in 18th position with just 26 points.
Atletico’s goals were scored by dangerman Antoine Griezmann, Yanick Carrasco and Thomas Lemar. Diego Simeone’s side have won three matches consecutively and are now just five points behind local rivals Real Madrid.
Real Sociedad, who are chasing Champions League football next season found no difficulty in beating bottom-placed Elche 2-0 at home. Second-half goals from Japanese international Takefusa Kubo and 21-year-old Ander Barrenetxea were enough to give Sociedad all three points.
Elche have managed to collect only 13 points from 26 La Liga matches this season.
Celta Vigo extended their unbeaten run to five matches after beating Espanyol 3-1 on their own turf thanks to goals from Gabriel Veiga, Iago Aspas, and Carles Perez.
That was Aspas’ 12th goal of the season and he is just three behind current top scorer Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona. Celta Vigo are now 10th and Espanyol are only one point from safety.
Here are the full results
Real Valladolid 1-3 Athletic Bilbao
Almeria 1-1 Cadiz
Rayo Vellecano 2-2 Girona
Espanyol 1-3 Celta Vigo
Atletico Madrid 3-0 Valencia
Real Betis 1-0 Real Mallorca
Real Sociedad 2-0 Elche
Osasusa 0-3 Villareal
Getafe 2-0 Sevilla
Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid.
La Liga will return for matchday 27 on March 31, 2023, after the international break.
