Atletico Madrid Claims Top Spot in La Liga by Defeating Barcelona
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Madrid, Dec 22 (NationPress) Atletico Madrid finished the year as the frontrunner in La Liga after securing a 2-1 away victory against FC Barcelona with almost the final attack of the match.
Alexander Sorloth netted the decisive goal for Atletico with a powerful left-footed strike in the sixth minute of injury time, catching Barca off-guard as the home team sought to clinch the win in a match that could have been settled much earlier.
Pedri initiated the scoring in the 30th minute after a run outside the Atletico area concluded with Gavi providing what appeared to be an accidental return pass that beat goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
In the second half, the midfielder assisted Raphinha, who saw his lob hit the crossbar just three minutes before Rodrigo De Paul equalized with his side's first shot on target in the 60th minute.
Robert Lewandowski made an astonishing miss as the intensity of the game escalated, moments before Inaki Pena made a crucial save to deny Pablo Barrios at the opposite end.
Barca was applying pressure on Atletico, with coach Diego Simeone reverting to a five-man defense to fend off Barca, but it required two brilliant saves from Oblak to deny Raphinha and Pedri to keep Atletico competitive before Sorloth shocked the home crowd.
The victory allowed Atletico Madrid to surpass Barcelona at the top of the table with 41 points, three points ahead of Barca with one game in hand.
Gorka Guruzeta and Alex Berenguer both scored as Athletic Bilbao came back from a goal down to win 2-1 away to Osasuna, moving within two points of Barca.
Lucas Torro put Osasuna in the lead moments after VAR overturned a penalty for Athletic, but Guruzeta equalized with a powerful header shortly after, and former Osasuna winger Berenguer clinched the win with a first-time shot after the home defense mishandled Unai Simon's long clearance.
Pablo Duran netted twice in six minutes as Celta Vigo triumphed 2-0 at home against Real Sociedad, with his first goal resulting from a shot outside the penalty area, while his second came after a pass from Borja Iglesias in first-half injury time.
Duran was denied a hat trick early in the second half when his effort was ruled out due to a previous offside from Iglesias.
Cyle Larin scored the solitary goal of the match from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute, as Mallorca concluded 2024 with a victory that propels them into the top six.
Getafe sought an equalizer following Larin's goal but failed to break through Mallorca's tenacious defense.
Diego Cocca experienced a dismal debut at Valladolid as his struggling team was outclassed in a 3-0 loss to Girona.
David Lopez opened the scoring by deflecting Miguel Gutierrez's free kick into the net after 31 minutes, and eight minutes later, Miguel crossed for Abel Ruiz to nod in the second goal for Girona, with Arnaut Danjuma completing the scoring nine minutes from time.
