Atletico Slip as Real and Barca close gap

Without Cristiano Ronaldo,who is still serving his ban for a sending off,Goals from Gareth Bale,Jese Rodriguez and a Karim Benzema brace were enough to send REAL MADRID joint top of the La Liga,following their thumping of VILLARREAL at the Santiago Bernabeu.

ATLETICO MADRID slipped from top spot all the way down to third place,with a minor goal difference as they were humbled by a Jose Antonio Verza brace at ALMERIA,raising more questions over their title credentials this season.

BARCELONA regained the Number 1 spot in the Spanish top division,level on points with both Madrid brothers,with Lionel Messi the star man. Leo set up Alexis Sanchez,before scoring a brace,and Cesc Fabregas wrapped things up to complete the comeback win for the Catalans at SEVILLA.

ATHLETIC BILBAO have a chance to cut the gap on all the League Leaders to 11 points with a victory at CELTA VIGO later tonight.

SPANISH LA LIGA MATCHDAY 23 RESULTS

ESPANYOL 1 - 0 GRANADA

VALENCIA 5 - 0 REAL BETIS

RAYO VALLECANO 4 - 1 MALAGA

REAL MADRID 4 - 2 VILLARREAL

ALMERIA 2 - 0 ATLETICO MADRID

OSASUNA 2 - 0 GETAFE

VALLADOLID 2 - 2 ELCHE

REAL SOCIEDAD 0 - 0 LEVANTE

SEVILLA 1 - 4 BARCELONA

February 10

22:00HRS CELTA VIGO VS ATHLETIC BILBAO

SPANISH LIGA BBVA STANDINGS

#	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Barcelona	23	18	3	2	63	17	46	57
2	Real Madrid	23	18	3	2	65	24	41	57
3	Atlético Madrid	23	18	3	2	56	16	40	57
4	Athletic	22	13	4	5	42	28	14	43
5	Villarreal	23	12	4	7	44	27	17	40
6	Real Sociedad	23	10	7	6	42	34	8	37
7	Sevilla	23	8	7	8	42	41	1	31
8	Valencia	23	9	4	10	36	35	1	31
9	Espanyol	23	8	5	10	26	29	-3	29
10	Levante	23	7	8	8	22	30	-8	29
11	Celta Vigo	22	7	4	11	29	35	-6	25
12	Elche	23	6	7	10	22	34	-12	25
13	Getafe CF	23	7	4	12	22	36	-14	25
14	Osasuna	23	7	4	12	21	37	-16	25
15	Almería	23	7	4	12	24	41	-17	25
16	Málaga	23	6	6	11	23	33	-10	24
17	Granada	23	7	3	13	20	30	-10	24
18	Valladolid	23	4	9	10	26	39	-13	21
19	Rayo	23	6	2	15	25	52	-27	20
20	Real Betis	23	3	5	15	20	52	-32	14

SPANISH LIGA BBVA TOP SCORERS CHAT

   Topscorers   Disciplinary 

TOPSCORERS

Player	Team	G	PG	FG
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	22	5	6
Diego Costa	Atlético Madrid	20	4	6
A. Sánchez	Barcelona	14	0	7
A. Griezmann	Real Sociedad	14	0	8
K. Benzema	Real Madrid	13	0	3
Pedro	Barcelona	12	0	2
L. Messi	Barcelona	11	2	2
David Villa	Atlético Madrid	11	1	6
I. Rakitić	Sevilla	10	3	5
C. Bacca	Sevilla	10	0	4
C. Vela	Real Sociedad	9	0	4
G. Bale	Real Madrid	9	0	4
G. dos Santos	Villarreal	9	1	3
Fàbregas	Barcelona	8	2	0
Neymar	Barcelona	6	1	4