La Liga: Atletico Madrid held by last-place Espanyol
Atletico Madrid's struggles away from home continued with a 1-1 draw at last-place Espanyol in the Spanish league on Sunday.
It was the fourth consecutive winless match for Atlético in away games in the league. The result dropped Diego Simeone's team to fourth place, behind Sevilla, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Atlético trails Sevilla by two points and leader Barcelona by 11 points.
Real Madrid and Barcelona meet in the “clásico” at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium later Sunday, with Madrid two points behind the Catalan club. Sevilla earlier beat Osasuna.
Atlético has won only one of its last 10 away matches in the league, with seven draws and two losses. The sole win during that run was against Real Betis in December. It has only two other away wins in the league this season.
“It's been tough for us away from home,” Atlético forward Saúl Ñíguez said. “We have been doing well at home, but we have to find a way to improve in these away matches."
Espanyol, at the bottom of the table with 20 points from 26 matches, opened the scoring with an own-goal by Atlético defender Stefan Savic in the 24th minute at the RCDE Stadium in Barcelona. He found his own net while trying to intercept a low cross by Chinese forward Wu Lei.
Ñíguez equalized for Atlético with a neat volley from outside the area after the ball was cleared from the box shortly after halftime.
SEVILLA WINS LATE
Forward Youssef En-Nesyri scored the winning goal three minutes into stoppage time to give Sevilla a 3-2 home win over 10-man Osasuna.
The victory moved Sevilla to third place, nine points behind leader Barcelona.
En-Nesyri had already scored Sevilla's first goal from inside the area in the 13th minute, and Lucas Ocampos added to the team's first-half lead with a header just before the break.
Osasuna went a man down in the 54th after goalkeeper Sergio Herrera was sent off for touching the ball with his hands outside the area while trying to stop a breakaway. Despite that, the visitors rallied with a header by Aridane Hernández in the 64th and a penalty kick converted by Roberto Torres in the 74th after a handball awarded by video review.
It was the second consecutive victory for Sevilla, allowing it to stay in the Champions League qualification spots.
Osasuna stayed in 12th place.
ATHLETIC ENDS SLUMP
Athletic Bilbao beat Villarreal 1-0 at home to end a 10-match winless streak in the Spanish league.
Athletic was yet to win in the league this year, with its last victory coming on Dec. 1 against Granada, its opponent in the Copa del Rey semifinals on Thursday.
Raúl García scored the winner by converting a 56th-minute penalty kick.
Athletic wasted another penalty 10 minutes later after Iñaki Williams had his shot saved by Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo.
The game ended with 12 yellow cards, six for each team, and Villarreal coach Javi Calleja was sent off.
Athletic, coming off four straight league losses, moved to 10th place, four points behind eighth-place Villarreal.
