FC Barcelona achieved an important 1-0 victory at the Camp Nou against Sevilla (4th) on Sunday, and will sleep in second place in the standings at the end of the 30th matchday of the League.
Despite having enjoyed several occasions, FC Barcelona was unable to open the scoring until the 72nd minute, thanks to a shot from Pedro Gonzalez from outside the area.
With this victory, FC Barcelona now has 57 points, in triple tie with Atlético de Madrid (3rd) and Sevilla (4th) and with one game in hand. Although at this point fighting against Real Madrid (1st) for the title already seems impossible, this victory represents a big step in the Blaugranas’ goal of qualifying for the Champions League.
Another of the teams seeking to qualify for the Champions League, Real Betis (5th), thrashed Osasuna (10th) 4-1 on Sunday at the Benito Villamarín and maintains pressure on the Top 4.
With two goals from Juanmi Jiménez in the first half (34′ and 45+1′) Real Betis went to the locker room with half a victory assured. The Croatian Ante Budimir closed the gap for Osasuna (65′) but William Carvalho (82′) and Álex Moreno (88′) closed the match, both goals assisted by Juanmi.
In other matches played on Sunday, Athletic (8th) won 2-1 at home against Elche (15th), thanks to goals from Alejandro Berenguer (32′) and Asier Villalibre (86′), who left the late goal anecdotal by José Antonio ‘Josan’ (90+2′).
For its part, Valencia (9th) took a step back in its European aspirations by not going beyond the 0-0 draw at home against Cádiz (17th), while Granada (16th) saved a point (2-2) against to Rayo (13th) with a penalty goal in stoppage time from Luis Milla (90+4).
Rayo came into the break with an advantage of two goals, scored by Alejandro Catena (6) and Sergi Guardiola (17), but was affected by the expulsion of Santi Comesaña (51), allowing a tie for a Granada that scored the first through of the veteran Jorge Molina (67).
Results of the matches of the 30th day of the Spanish soccer championship, and classification table:
Saturday:
Getafe-Majorca 1-0
Raise – Villarreal 2 – 0
Celtic – Real Madrid 1 – 2
Atletico Madrid – Alaves 4 – 1
Sunday:
Athletic – Elche 2 – 1
Betis-Osasuna 4-1
Grenade – Lightning 2 – 2
Valencia – Cadiz 0 – 0
Barcelona – Seville 1 – 0
Monday:
(19:00 GMT) Real Sociedad – Espanyol
Classification: Pts JGEP GF GC Dif
1. Real Madrid 69 30 21 6 3 61 26 35
2. Barcelona 57 29 16 9 4 57 29 28
3. Atletico Madrid 57 30 17 6 7 57 37 20
4. Seville 57 30 15 12 3 40 20 20
5. Betis 53 30 16 5 9 54 36 18
6. Royal Society 48 29 13 9 7 29 29 0
7. Villareal 45 30 12 9 9 48 29 19
8. Athletic 44 30 11 11 8 35 29 6
9. Valencia 41 30 10 11 9 42 43 -1
10. Osasuna 38 30 10 8 12 30 40 -10
11. Celtic 36 30 9 9 12 34 34 0
12. Spanish 36 29 9 9 11 35 41 -6
13. Lightning 33 29 9 6 14 31 36 -5
14. Getafe 32 30 7 11 12 28 33 -5
15. Elche 32 30 8 8 14 31 42 -11
16. Grenada 29 30 6 11 13 33 48 -15
17. Cadiz 28 30 5 13 12 25 41 -16
18. Majorca 26 30 6 8 16 26 50 -24
19. Raise 22 30 4 10 16 33 58 -25
20. Alava 22 30 5 7 18 24 52 -28
