Madrid, April 22 (IANS): Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's ninth goal of the season gave FC Barcelona a 1-0 win against Real Sociedad to keep Barca second in La Liga here on Thursday.
The striker headed Ferran Torres' cross into the back of the Real Sociedad net in the 11th minute of the game in what was Barca's only effort on target during the match.
Barca had the better of the first half, but were on the back foot more in the second half, especially after Ronald Araujo had to be replaced by Eric Garcia after a knock on his knee.
Marc Andre Ter Stegen kept the home side at bay with two excellent saves from Adnan Januzaj as Real Sociedad ended the game with 56 percent of possession.
Sevilla remain third after a 3-2 win away to Levante, whose survival hopes suffered a big blow after Jesus Corona scored two first-half goals and Jules Kounde added a third in the 81st minute, reports Xinhua.
Jose Luis Morales's 22nd minute momentarily leveled the scores, but he missed another with the score at 2-1 and Roberto Soldado's second for Levante came with just three minutes left to play.
Sergi Guardiola's 42nd-minute goal ended Rayo Vallecano's 13 match run without a win and gave the Madrid based side a completely deserved 1-0 win away to a disappointing Espanyol.
Cadiz's second half fightback fell just short as they lost 3-2 at home to Athletic Club Bilbao.
The visitors raced into a 3-0 first half lead thanks to goals from Raul Garcia, Iker Muniain, who netted after his initial penalty had been blocked, and Mikel Vesga, who fired home from outside of the area.
Cadiz fought back strongly after the break and after Lucas Perez pulled a goal back in the 57th minute, they put Athletic under constant pressure with a string of crosses. Athletic were reduced to 10 when Vesga was sent off for a second yellow card, but although Ruben Soriano netted a second goal in the 86th minute, Athletic held on for three points.