La Liga: Real Madrid narrow gap as Atletico lose

Atletico Madrid's loss to Levante made Atletico's lead at the top of La Liga cut to three points with a game in hand

Madrid: Atletico Madrid’s title challenge suffered another setback as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Levante on Saturday.

The result, coupled with Real Madrid’s 1-0 win at Real Valladolid, sees Atletico’s lead at the top of La Liga cut to three points with a game in hand, when just two weeks ago it looked as if they were running away with the league.

Atletico and Levante had drawn 1-1 in Valencia in midweek, so surprise was no excuse for Atletico as they once again found it hard to break Paco Lopez’s well-drilled side, and Atletico’s tactic of using three central defenders with Marcos Llorente as a wing-back didn’t work, although Llorente was probably Atletico’s best player, Xinhua news reports.

Levante had a big stroke of luck as Jose Luis Morales opened the scoring after the ball deflected off two Atletico defenders. Luis Suarez saw a free-kick bounce back off the post, but Atletico looked flat, and after Jan Oblak had gone forward for a corner in injury-time, Jorge Frutos was able to advance into space and put the ball into an empty net to seal an excellent win for Levante.

Casemiro’s 65th minute header decided a tight game for an injury-hit Real Madrid in Valladolid, where Thibaut Courtois kept Madrid in the game with a series of excellent saves. Mariano Diaz had two goals ruled out for offside in the first half. Manu Vallejo’s 94th-minute goal gifted Valencia a much-needed home win over Celta Vigo, who had to play with 10 men for almost half an hour after keeper Ruben Blanco was sent off for a foul outside the box.