MADRID —
Espanyol left back Carlos Romero scored the only goal of the game six minutes
from time as his side stunned Real Madrid 1-0 in La Liga.
Espanyol had withstood a lot of second half pressure from
Real Madrid, with goalkeeper, Joan Garcia making a series of important saves to
keep his side in the game, before the side who had kicked off third from bottom
of the table, caught Madrid flat-footed.
Perhaps the worst news for Real Madrid was a muscle injury
that forced Antonio Rudiger out of the game after 13 minutes, robbing his side
of the best defender this campaign, reports Xinhua.
Atletico Madrid took advantage of its neighbor's defeat to
move to a point off the lead with a 2-0 win at home to Mallorca a week ahead of
the Madrid derby.
Samuel Lino opened the scoring after a counter-attack in the
25th minute, although the three points were not safe until well into injury
time when Antoine Griezmann scored with a neat chip.
Villarreal strengthened its place in fifth and closed the
gap on Athletic Club Bilbao with a 5-1 win at home to bottom of the table
Valladolid.
Ayoze Perez broke Valladolid's resistance in the 41st minute
to put Villarreal ahead, with Pape Gueye, Santi Comesana, Thierno Barry, and
Denis Suarez adding to the score before Selim Amallah's consolation goal for
Valladolid in the 93rd minute.
Getafe and Sevilla kicked off on Saturday with a 0-0 draw
that doesn't help either side, although it does continue to edge Getafe closer
to safety.
Sevilla had more efforts on goal, but a scrappy affair with
10 yellow cards saw each team only manage one shot each on target.
