FC Barcelona cruises, Atletico held in Almeria: LaLiga

Raphinha scored first in the 20th minute and had two more chances before halftime as Barca dominated their rivals, who were well below their usual level

Madrid: FC Barcelona produced one of their most assured displays of the season to beat Getafe 4-0 and to move into second place in LaLiga, five points behind Real Madrid, who play on Sunday and ahead of Girona’s whose game is on Monday night.

Raphinha opened the scoring in the 20th minute and could have had two more before halftime as Barca dominated their rivals well below usual level.

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Joao Felix made it 2-0 eight minutes into the second half, and Frenkie de Jong added a third just after the hour to assure the win, with Fermin Lopez scoring the fourth in the last minute to round off a successful afternoon, Xinhua reports.

Atletico Madrid, who were without the injured Antoine Griezmann, dropped two points to bottom-of-the-table Almeria, who continue to give sides trouble despite being virtually assured of relegation.

Angel Correa put Atletico ahead in the first minute, but Luka Romero equalized in the 56th minute and the Almeria forward scored again after 64 minutes after Rodrigo de Paul had again put Atletico in front.

Alaves and Mallorca drew 1-1 with a result that keeps the home side well clear of the relegation zone. Carlos Benavidez headed Alaves ahead in the 75th minute but Nemanja Nastasic gave Mallorca a morale boost ahead of Tuesday’s Copa del Rey semifinal return leg when he nodded home an equalizer two minutes from time.

On Friday night Santi Comesana scored twice as Villarreal won 3-1 away to Real Sociedad.

The former Rayo Vallecano midfielder netted a 17th minute header and then slid home after poor defending early in the second half and although Mikel Merino pulled a goal back for the home side with five minutes left to play, Alexander Sorloth turned to fire home in the 95th minute to kill off any hopes of a point for his former club.

The scheduled game between Granada and Valencia was postponed because of a massive fire in Valencia, which claimed 10 lives on Thursday.