La Liga: Advantaged Barcelona In LaLiga Title Race After Madrid Rivals Slip Up

  La Liga: Advantaged Barcelona In LaLiga Title Race After Madrid Rivals Slip Up By Omolagba Oluwayemi Barcelona were handed advantage in Spain’s title race after leaders Atletico Madrid and rivals Real Madrid both slipped up in another dramatic weekend in LaLiga. Zinedine Zidane’s Real passed up the chance to go level on points with Atletico on Saturday as Los Blancos were held to a goalless draw by Real Betis. Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona followed that up on Sunday with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Villarreal to close the gap on Diego Simeone’s table-toppers. Fourth-placed Sevilla also won, beating Granada 2-1 to stay in the title race - though their game ended in bizarre fashion as the referee ordered both sets of players back onto the pitch to play an extra minute after realising he had blown his whistle for full-time too early. The pressure was on Atletico following those results, but Los Colchoneros slipped up with a 2-1 defeat at Athletic Club. Four teams - Atletico, Real, Barca and Sevilla - are now separated by just three points at the top of LaLiga. Atletico remain top of LaLiga on 73 points after 33 games, but Real and Barcelona are now just two points behind - and Barca have a game in hand. Atleti still hold their title fate in their own hands given they face Barca at Camp Nou on May 8 though Barca are also in the same situation whereby winning all their remaining games would deliver them the title instead.