Atletico Madrid striker Mario Mandzukic (centre) celebrates after scoring against Getafe during the La Liga match at the Alfonso Perez Coliseum stadium in Getafe. (EPA)
Sevilla and Atletico Madrid joined the fascinating battle at the top of the Spanish Liga on Sunday, with tight defeats of midtable teams Villarreal and Getafe.
Sevilla came from behind to beat luckless Villarreal 2-1, Atletico won 1-0 at Getafe.
These results left Sevilla level on 22 points with leaders Barcelona - who crashed 3-1 at Real Madrid in Saturday’s Clasico - though with an inferior goal difference.
Real are third with 21 points, Valencia and Atletico are joint fourth with 20.
Sevilla’s late, dramatic 2-1 comeback defeat of Villarreal will be long remembered in Seville.
Supersub Luciano Vietto gave Villarreal the lead with just 11 minutes left with a calm finish, after being played through by veteran Cani.
However, in the 88th minute, Denis Suarez - who is on loan from Barcelona - equalised after a goalmouth scramble. And three minutes into injury-time, Sevilla were given a debateable penalty for an alleged foul by Giovani dos Santos on Benoit Tremoulinas.
Carlos Bacca sent the Sanchez Pizjuan wild by calmly converting the spot-kick to make it 2-1.
“I really think we deserve this win, because of our faith and spirit,” Bacca said.
“Most teams would have settled for a 1-1 draw in these circumstances, but we refused to do so. We didn’t stop attacking until we had won the match.”
Meanwhile, Villarreal coach Marcelino Garcia said: “The penalty decision was strange, to say the least ... But we also have to accept that we should have closed the game down at 1-0, and killed it off.”
Later Sunday, Atletico won at neighbours Getafe on a goal from Mario Mandzukic.
The Croatian striker took advantage of a goalmouth scramble following a corner to break the deadlock, five minutes before half-time.
Getafe had defender Alexis sent off for fighting 10 minutes into the second half, and Atletico had few problems in holding out for the win.
Malaga thrash Vallecano
Earlier Sunday, Malaga cruised up to seventh with a 4-0 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano.
Samu Castillejo gave Malaga an early lead, Sergi Darder made it 2-0 while Juanmi added a third goal just before half-time. Nordin Amrabat completed the rout by converting a penalty four minutes into the second half.
The comfortable win took Malaga up to seventh, on 15 points, and left Rayo ninth, with 11.
“The key to this victory was our intensity. We just never relaxed for a second,” said Malaga boss Javi Gracia.
“Our dream is to finish in fourth position. But we still have a long way to go to achieve that.”
His Rayo counterpart Paco Jemez said: “This defeat will do us good, if we manage to learn from the mistakes we committed today.”
Also Sunday, Espanyol were held 0-0 by defiant Deportivo Coruna.
The draw left Espanyol 11th and Deportivo - who seem to be recovering from a disastrous start - 16th. But the focus remains firmly on the table toppers.
