Two matches of the 17th round of the Spanish "La Liga" took place on Friday. The Madrid "Atletico", marching in second place, clashed with Barcelona's "Espanyol" on the road. Diego Simeone's players will want to forget their visit to the Catalan capital - they suffered a 0-1 defeat. The entire 90 minutes saw a rather tense football match - neither team had many chances to score, and "Atletico" only hit the goal once throughout the match. The decisive moment of the match came in the 88th minute, when "Espanyol" launched a quick counterattack and after Esteban Granero's pass, Sergio Garcia scored a great goal. "Atletico" had almost no time to save themselves, and the hosts triumphed. "Espanyol" secured the victory after three consecutive winless matches. Meanwhile, "Atletico" lost very important points, knowing that "El Clasico" will take place on Saturday. In case of Barcelona's failure, "Rojiblancos" could have equaled the Catalans with 3 points, but now they remain with a six-point deficit. In other matches, Seville's "Real Betis" fell at home to Bilbao's "Athletic" - thanks to a goal from Raul Garcia and an own goal, the Basques celebrated a 2-0 victory. Results: "Espanyol" 1 - 0 "Atletico" (VIDEO) 88' [1 - 0] S. Garcia "Real Betis" 0 - 2 "Athletic Bilbao" 36' [0 - 1] R. Garcia (penalty) 85' [0 - 2] Z. Feddal (own goal) 34' J. Amat (Betis) sent off the pitch League Standings:
