BARCELONA
\nRayo Vallecano stunned impotent La Liga leaders Barcelona on Wednesday with a 2-1 win, outplaying the Catalans at a rowdy Vallecas.
\nAtletico Madrid cut the gap on second-place rivals Real Madrid to two points with a 3-1 win over Real Mallorca, celebrating their 120th anniversary in style.
\nXavi Hernandez\u2019s Barcelona remain 11 points clear of second-placed Real Madrid with seven matches remaining.
\nAfter the champions lost at Girona on Tuesday their hopes of defending the title are virtually over, despite Barcelona following suit with a deserved defeat in the capital.
\nXavi\u2019s side have won just one of their last four league matches — a narrow triumph over Atletico on Sunday — as they limp towards the finish line and a first title since 2019.
\nBarcelona\u2019s coach urged his players to be wary of Rayo\u2019s threat before the game, but they did not heed his warning. The Catalans have not beaten the Madrid club in their last four league meetings.
\n\u201cThe league is not finished, this is the problem — we have to deserve La Liga, today we deserved defeat,\u201d Xavi told reporters.
\n\u201cWhat annoys me is that today we did not compete how the game required us to. But we will get players back (from injury), there\u2019s another game on Saturday.
\n\u201cHere a lot of teams have lost, and others have had a lot of trouble winning. Luckily, there\u2019s another game on Saturday.\u201d
\nThe coach was without suspended captain Sergio Busquets but handed Pedri his first start since he was injured in February.
\nRayo broke the deadlock early on when Alvaro Garcia drilled home across Marc-Andre ter Stegen and into the bottom corner.
\nRobert Lewandowski should have equalised for Barcelona but Rayo goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski denied the forward one-on-one, and then the Pole had a goal ruled out for offside.
\nRayo doubled their lead after the break when left-back Fran Garcia pressed Frenkie de Jong, collected the ball and drove on to score.
\n\u201cWe knew that it was an important day for us, they say the giant-killers are back,\u201d said Fran Garcia.
\n\u201cThe atmosphere can\u2019t be described … we want to give it back in the best way possible.\u201d
\nLewandowski pulled one back for Barcelona after Franck Kessie\u2019s shot was blocked, ending a run of four games without a goal for the division\u2019s top scorer.
\nRayo held on for only their second win in their last 11 league matches — and third in four games against Barca for coach Andoni Iraola.
\nDiego Simeone\u2019s Atletico Madrid, on the club\u2019s 120th anniversary, put on an entertaining display in their win over Mallorca with Antoine Griezmann at the heart of it once again.
\nThe forward produced two assists as Rodrigo de Paul, Alvaro Morata and Yannick Carrasco struck for the hosts at the Metropolitano.
\nAfter Real Madrid were thumped 4-2 by Girona on Tuesday, Atletico capitalised to reel in their neighbours.
\nAtletico, wearing special blue and white kits at home to mark the occasion of their anniversary — the design was based on their first ever shirt — had their celebrations disrupted early on.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s impossible not to get stuck in with this atmosphere,\u201d Simeone told DAZN.
\n\u201cAfter such a bad start (to the season), to get back on our feet fills me with pride, because it was not easy.\u201d
\nMatija Nastasic put Mallorca ahead against the run of play after 20 minutes, heading in from a corner.
\nDe Paul equalised in first-half stoppage time after Predrag Rajkovic parried from Griezmann, but the Frenchman laid the rebound across for his team-mate to finish.
\nAtletico took the lead early in the second period when Nahuel Molina crossed for Morata to powerfully head home.
\nCarrasco netted the third after 77 minutes on the break after Griezmann sent him through on goal with a fine lobbed pass and he rounded Rajkovic before finishing.
\nAlmeria climbed up to 15th with a 2-1 win at 10-man Getafe, which left the hosts 17th, one point above the bottom three, which they could sink into depending on other results Thursday.
\nCelta Vigo earned a late win over bottom-of-the-table Elche thanks to defender Joseph Aidoo\u2019s diving header.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BARCELONA Rayo Vallecano stunned impotent La Liga leaders Barcelona on Wednesday with a 2-1 win, outplaying the Catalans at a rowdy Vallecas. Atletico Madrid cut the gap on second-place rivals Real Madrid to two points with a 3-1 win over Real Mallorca, celebrating their 120th anniversary in style. Xavi Hernandez\u2019s Barcelona remain 11 points clear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-328024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n