Atlético and Real Madrid both win to keep up pressure on FC Barcelona

Atlético and Real Madrid both won their games on Saturday, played in the hours preceding Barça's 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad. The outcome of the day's action is that Barça's lead in La Liga has been cut to three points on Atlético and four on Real.

Atlético were back in Barcelona just four days after losing 2-1 in the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals, this time to face Espanyol. It was the home side who took the lead through Diop after 28 minutes, but Fernando Torres, who was red carded against Barça on Tuesday and misses the second leg, equalised seven minutes later.

Griezmann put Atlético ahead after the break, and Koke’s goal two minutes from time secured a 3-1 win for the red-and-whites. The result narrows the gap at the top of table to three points, albeit only temporarily pending the outcome of events in San Sebastian.

Earlier on in the day, third-placed Real Madrid had overwhelmed Eibar in their game at the Bernabéu, with James, Lucas, Cristiano and Jesé scoring to make it 4-0 before the half-time whistle had blown. Perhaps with their crunch Champions League quarter final with Wolfsburg in mind, where they’ll need to turn around a two-goal deficit after losing in Germany, Madrid eased off the pace in the second half and there was no further score.

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