Atlético Madrid rally to beat Valencia

Atlético defeated Valencia 3-1 on Sunday to strengthen its hold on the league lead entering the second half of the season

Madrid: Atlético Madrid hasn’t flinched in its quest to win the Spanish league title for the first time since 2014. Coming from behind for a second straight time, Atlético defeated Valencia 3-1 on Sunday to strengthen its hold on the league lead entering the second half of the season.

Barcelona earlier picked up its second win in a row without the suspended Lionel Messi, defeating Elche 2-0 to regain third place. João Félix, Luis Suárez and Ángel Correa scored to give Atlético its seventh straight league win and a seven-point gap to second-place Real Madrid with a game in hand. Diego Simeone’s team is 10 points ahead of Barcelona. Atlético had also needed to rally to win its previous league match, against Eibar.

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Valencia opened the scoring with a beautiful curling long-range shot by Uros Racic in the 11th minute, but Félix equalized off a corner kick in the 23rd and Suárez put the hosts ahead with a well-placed low shot into the far corner in the 54th from a Félix pass. Correa sealed the victory by completing a cross from Marcos Llorente in the 72nd. Suárez, who netted a late winner against Eibar last weekend, is now one of the league’s leading scorers with 12 goals, along with Sevilla’s Youssef En-Nesyri.

Valencia, which was unbeaten in five matches in all competitions, stayed in 14th place. It has the same 20 points as Alavés, the first team inside the relegation zone after 20 matches.

Frenkie de Jong scored in the 39th and set up Riqui Puig’s 89th-minute goal to give Barcelona its fourth league win in a row as Messi served the second of his two-game suspension for hitting an opponent. The Catalan club moved a point in front of Sevilla, which on Saturday beat Cádiz 3-0.