FC Barcelona moved level of points with Real Madrid (who play on Sunday) at the top of the Liga Santander on Saturday night with a hard-fought 2-1 win at home to Getafe, reports Xinhua.
The game started badly for Barcelona, who lost Jordi Alba with a muscle injury, and they were lucky to still be on level terms as Getafe had a goal ruled out by the VAR after Marc Andre Ter Stegen saved from Jordi Molina.
Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring for Barca after a Leo Messi pass in the 33rd minute and Sergio Roberto doubled their lead five minutes later.
However, Getafe continued to make life hard for Barcelona and they pulled a goal back through Angel Rodriguez with 25 minutes to play. Angel (who has been linked with a possible move to Barca) was close to an equalizer shortly afterwards but Ter Stegen was able to react quickly and ensure three vital points for Barca.
Friday night saw Valencia and Atletico Madrid share four goals in an entertaining 2-2 draw in Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium with the home team twice coming back to salvage a point.
Marcos Llorente and Thomas Partey twice put Atletico in front, but their goals were cancelled out by Gabriel Paulista and Geoffrey Kondogbia, although Valencia will be worried when Gabriel went off injured just days before they return to Champions League action.
Villarreal moved up to sixth after their 2-1 win at home to Levante in an east-coast derby. Gerard Moreno opened the scoring for Villarreal in the ninth minute, but Borja Majoral equalized in an entertaining game for the visitors ten minutes into the second half after a cross from the left.
Moi Gomez sealed the win for Villarreal in the 81st minute with a low shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Granada beat Valladolid 2-1 in Los Carmenes with Granada’s Antonio Puertas’ 81st minute goal cancelling out Sergi Guardiola’s 56th minute opener for the visitors, which was given after the VAR checked for offside. The game looked set for a draw, but Carlos Fernandez netted a 96th minute winner for the home side with virtually the last kick of the game.
Saturday also saw Mallorca climb out of the bottom three as Juan Camilo’s 63rd minute goal game them three points at home to Alaves.
