Bat bites FC Barcelona & Bilbao defeats Atletico 2-0

MADRID: FC Barcelona’s problems continued when it was held 1-1 away by Valencia, which made its chances of defending the La Liga title successfully really dim.

Although Joao Felix had put Barca ahead in the 55th minute after a brilliant pass from Frenkie de Jong that allowed Raphinha to set him up, Valencia drew level thanks to a magnificent shot from midfielder Hugo Guillamon.

Guillamon, who was making his first start of the season, collected the ball outside of the penalty area and curled a shot into the top corner of the Barca net.

Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili kept the score level with a couple of excellent saves in the closing minutes to deny Raphinha.

Athletic Bilbao celebrated its 125th anniversary of the club’s foundation with a brilliant 2-0 win at home over Atletico Madrid.

Bilbao dominated the first half from start to finish, but saw Oihan Sancet send a penalty over the crossbar, Nico and Inaki Williams both hit the post, and Atletico keeper Jan Oblak produce fine saves to deny Gorka Guruzeta and Nico.

Guruzeta finally broke the deadlock seven minutes into the second half and then Nico sealed the win with a magnificent goal in the 63rd minute to lift the Basque side to be within two points of the top four.

Sevilla sacks coach Alonso

sevilla coach Diego Alonso was sacked after his side suffered a disastrous 3-0 defeat at home to Getafe.

Penalties from Borja Mayoral and Mason Greenwood and a 37th minute shot from Jaime Mata gave Getafe three easy points, and Sevilla failed to win in 12 league or European matches with Alonso in charge.

Jorgen Strand Larsen’s 19th minute goal, which came with a backheel after an error from Granada keeper Andre Ferreira, gave third from bottom Celta a vital 1-0 win at home to second from bottom Granada and possibly saved coach Rafa Benitez’s job.

The result came at a cost, however, after Celta’s talisman Iago Aspas was sent off for a cynical challenge from behind with 11 minutes left to play.

Osasuna kicked the weekend off with a 1-0 home win over Rayo Vallecano to end their six-game winless run and extend Rayo’s winless run to five games.

Raul Garcia’s 95th-minute header gifted Osasuna a hard-fought win after home keeper Sergio Herrera had kept it 0-0 with a series of impressive saves.