(Football news) Barcelona had to work really hard for their 1-0 win against Valencia. It was always going to be a tough game for the Catalans as Gavi was suspended while Pedri, Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele were injured. Raphinha opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a header from Sergio Busquets’ brilliant long ball. Barcelona won a penalty in the 53rd minute but the spot kick was missed by Ferran Torres.

Barcelona were hit with a mega blow in the 59th minute as Ronald Araujo was shown a straight red card. In the 85th minute Valencia looked to have earned a penalty after Franck Kessie fouled Fran Perez but the referee and VAR didn’t give a spot kick. Thankfully for Barcelona, they didn’t concede too many chances and managed to keep a clean sheet.

Atletico Madrid defeated Sevilla 6-1 at the Wanda Metropolitano. The match was a landmark for Diego Simeone as he broke Luis Aragonés’ record as the coach with the most matches in Atletico history with 613. Memphis Depay was handed his first start for the Rojiblancos and he showed his worth. The Dutchman scored twice inside 26 minutes to put Atletico Madrid 2-0 up. Youssef En-Nesyri pulled 1 back as the first half ended at 2-1 to the home side.

The 2nd half was carnage as Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco made it 4-1 to Atletico Madrid. Pape Gueye won a penalty but Ivan Rakitic couldn’t control it. Alvaro Morata came on as a substitute and scored two goals to seal a mammoth 6-1 victory for Atlético. The victory puts them 3rd on the table above Real Sociedad while Sevilla are now 18th on the table level on points with Almeria below them.

Real Madrid produced another lackluster performance as they drew 0-0 against Real Sociedad. Los Blancos have scored only 1 goal in their last 3 games which was from a set piece by an academy player i.e Alvaro Rodriguez. Luka Modric missed the game due to suspension while Dani Ceballos and Marco Asensio once again started on the bench. Full backs Nacho and Dani Carvajal were also on the bench as Eduardo Camavinga and Lucas Vazquez started as full backs.

Real Madrid were toothless in attack as they didn’t create enough chances. Los Blancos did score in the 12th minute via Karim Benzema’s free kick but the goal was ruled out by VAR as it hit Antonio Rudiger’s hand on the way. There was no quality inside the Betis box which is surprising because this is the same team that won 5-2 against Liverpool at Anfield. Barcelona are now 9 points ahead in La Liga as the title defence is looking higly unlikely for Carlo Ancelotti’s men.

Also read: Premier League: Liverpool score seven past Manchester United at Anfield