Sevilla lose ground, while Atletico Madrid win in Granada

Sevilla lost the chance to close the gap at the top of the Liga Santander and saw how their title hopes began to slip away from them as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Leganes on Saturday.

The draw leaves them two points behind Real Madrid with two more games played, and three behind Barca, who have played a game less.

Leganes took advantage of squad rotations by Sevilla ahead of their Champions League clash away to Leicester City to produce a well-organized and hard-working display and if either of the two deserved to win it was the visitors.

Leganes opened the scoring in the second minute with a Gabriel Pires back-heel and had chances to double their lead before Stefan Jovetic leveled shortly before halftime.

The second half saw Sevilla make changes in search of the win, but they failed to trouble the visitors, who could have taken all three points after a shot from Luciano drifted inches wide.

Atletico Madrid also looked to be on the verge of losing ground as their game away to Granada looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw until Antoine Griezmann's 13th goal of the season from a diving header ensured Atletico stay fourth, while keeping Granada that bit deeper in the relegation mire.

Valencia and Sporting Gijon drew 1-1 in Valencia's Mestalla stadium in a result which probably helps the home side more than the visitors, who remain second from bottom of the table.

Sporting keeper Pichu Cuellar saved his second penalty in two weeks before Duje Cop opened put the visitors ahead on the hour and Munir equalized with six minutes left to play.

Michel Gonzalez made his debut as Malaga coach as his side entertained Alaves, but saw how they fell behind to a Zou Feddal goal at the end of the first half.

Malaga reacted well after the break and got a deserved equalizer through Juan Carlos and looked to be on track for a win when Zou Feddal's second yellow side left his side with 10 men, but Edgar Mendez scored a second goal for Alaves against the run of play to seal an unlikely win in injury time.

source: Xinhua