FC Barcelona booked a tight win in the city derby against Espanyol on Wednesday evening: 1-0. Due to the defeat, Espanyol is relegated from La Liga for the first time in 27 years.
Barcelona, where the injured Frenkie de Jong was still missing, had a lot of trouble in Camp Nou to open the score against Espanyol. Five minutes after the break, the home team also had to continue with ten men by a red card for Ansu Fati, who was sent off on the advice of the VAR for a solid income on Fernando Calero.
Three minutes later, Espanyol also faced ten men. Pol Lozano got red for an almost identical foul on Gerard Piqué. Luis Suárez scored the opening goal three minutes later by tapping in from close range.
The victory brings number two Barcelona to a point of league-leader Real Madrid. ‘The Royal’ has played a game less and will play against Deportivo Alavés at home on Friday.
Espanyol has been continuously active in La Liga since 1993. Due to the loss, the gate closer can no longer close the hole with number seventeen Eibar. The bottom three teams are relegated to the Segunda División.
Earlier in the evening, thanks to two penalties by Santi Cazorla, Villarreal recorded an important victory at Getafe: 1-3. Villarreal is fifth and is now three points behind number four Seville, which will visit Athletic Club on Thursday. The top four teams in La Liga receive a Champions League ticket.
View the results, the position and the program in La Liga
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Mario Pasalic and Rafael Tolói celebrate the opening goal of Atalanta. (Photo: Getty Images)
Atalanta continues an impressive series of victories
In Italy, Marten de Roon and Hans Hateboer won their ninth league game in a row with Atalanta. The team from Bergamo was 2-0 too strong for Sampdoria on Wednesday-evening.
Rafael Tolói opened the score fifteen minutes before time and substitute Luis Muriel determined the final score ten minutes later. Hateboer played the entire game and De Roon came in early in the second half. At Sampdoria, coach Claudio Ranieri got yellow twice in three minutes after the break and so he had to take a seat in the stands.
Atalanta has been unbeaten since mid-January. Since then, the Northern Italians have won ten times in all competitions and played once. With the seventh league victory in a row, a club record was already broken.
With the victory, Atalanta takes third place in Serie A for the time being from Internazionale. The difference between the two teams is two points, but the Milanese will visit Hellas Verona on Thursday.
AS Roma registered its first victory in four games without Justin Kluivert. The Romans beat Parma in the Stadio Olimpico 2-1 thanks to hits by Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jordan Veretout and are fifth. Earlier in the evening, Napoli won 1-2 with goals from Dries Mertens and Hirving Lozano at Genoa. Napoli has as many points as Roma, but is sixth due to a lesser goal difference.
View the results, the position and the program in Serie A.
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