On Sunday, four matches of the 27th round of the Spanish "La Liga" championship took place.
At the "Camp Nou" stadium, a highly anticipated match between Barcelona and Madrid's Atletico teams took place. Diego Simeone's team failed to revive the fight for the title - Lionel Messi's penalty kick determined the Catalan victory with a score of 1-0.
From the start of the match, Ernesto Valverde's team looked strong both with the ball and in creating opportunities. Jan Oblak saved several dangerous shots, but in the 26th minute, the Slovenian goalkeeper could no longer save his team.
L. Messi stepped up to take the penalty kick from about 25 meters. The Argentine did not disappoint the fans - a fantastic shot gave the hosts the advantage, which was maintained until the end of the match. This goal was special for L. Messi - it was his 600th career goal.
In the second half, Atletico tried to make a comeback and played quite actively in attack. However, Barcelona's defense remained solid, and Atletico had serious problems with counterattacks.
Neither team managed to score in the second half, and the match ended with Barcelona's victory.
Barcelona increased their lead over second-placed Atletico to 8 points after the victory. There are still 11 matches left to play until the end of the Spanish championship.
In another match, Espanyol equalized against Levante at the end of the game, while Real Sociedad defeated Alaves at home.
In the last match of the night, Valencia defeated Real Betis at home. Goals from Rodrigo and Simone Zaza secured the victory, reducing the gap to one point behind Real.
Results:
Barcelona 1 - 0 Atletico 26' [1 - 0] L. Messi
Levante 1 - 1 Espanyol (VIDEO) 65' [1 - 0] J. Morales (11m penalty) 90+1' [1 - 1] J. Baptistao
Real Sociedad 2 - 1 Alaves 6' [1 - 0] H. Moreno 11' [2 - 0] Illarra 39' [2 - 1] Alfonso
Valencia 2 - 0 Real Betis 23' [1 - 0] Rodrigo 47' [2 - 0] S. Zaza
League table:
