Atletico moves to third in La Liga

With the victory, the Madrid team climbed back into the top four in La Liga. The 20-year-old Portuguese, who Atletico signed from Benfica for 126 million euros (105.38 million pounds) last year, had missed most of the previous month through injury. But, he came off the bench to score his side’s third goal after Paco Alcacer had given Villarreal an early lead.

Argentine forward Angel Correa pulled Atletico level shortly before half-time while captain Koke put it in front in the 64th minute. Felix rubber-stamped the win with a low shot from just outside the area 10 minutes later. The victory followed Atletico’s impressive 1-0 success at home to Champions League holder Liverpool in last Tuesday’s last-16 first leg.

The win took Diego Simeone’s unit into third in the standings, level on 43 points with fourth-placed Sevilla after 25 games. Villarreal would have gone above Atletico had it won but instead stays seventh on 38 points.

Paris St Germain extended its Ligue 1 lead to 13 points with a 4-3 home victory against Girondins de Bordeaux last Sunday but the French league holder was again exposed at the back and had Neymar sent off.

A Marquinhos double, Edinson Cavani’s 200th PSG goal and a strike by Kylian Mbappe put the capital side on 65 points from 26 games. But the defending champion lost captain Thiago Silva to a muscle injury and Neymar picked up a straight red card for a late challenge in stoppage time.

Bordeaux, which scored through Hwang Ui-jo, Pablo and Ruben Pardo, is 12th on 35 points. It is to be noted Marseille is second with 52 points.