Leganes defeats Barcelona at home, Atletico Madrid takes advantage and climbs to second place

Barcelona suffered a defeat at home to Leganes, while Atletico Madrid climbed to second place, taking advantage of Real Madrid's stumble, today, Sunday, in the seventeenth round of the Spanish Football League.

Leganes pulled off a big surprise and beat host Barcelona, the league leaders, by one goal to nil.

Sergio Gonzalez opens the scoring for Leganes against Barcelona #LaLiga #Barcelona #Leganes pic.twitter.com/6cgTxdcoaX

- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) December 15, 2024

Sergio Gonzalez scored the winning goal for Leganes in the fourth minute of the match, and Barcelona failed to equalize at least despite the many opportunities that the Catalan team players had.

This is Barcelona's fourth loss this season, as it remains at the top with 38 points, with a goal difference only ahead of Atletico Madrid, which had beaten Getafe 1-0 on Sunday in the same stage.

Leganes moved up to 15th place with 18 points after achieving only their fourth victory this season.

Atletico Madrid move up to second place

In another match, Atletico Madrid took advantage of the stumble of its neighbor Real Madrid to climb to second place in the Spanish League standings by defeating its guest Getafe 1-0.

Substitute Alexander Sorloth headed home the winner in the 69th minute to give Atletico the three points, taking their tally to 38 points, pushing Real Madrid out of second place and putting more pressure on leaders Barcelona.

In the mini Basque derby, Deportivo Alaves tied with its guest, Athletic Bilbao, with one goal each.

The visitors were quick to take the lead through Unai Gomez after ten minutes.

The lead continued until the 67th minute, when Joan Jordan equalized for Alaves, who raised their score to 16 points, compared to 33 for Bilbao, who are fourth in the standings.

Brazilian Vitor Roque put Betis ahead in the 32nd minute, two minutes later the Andalusian team was forced to complete the match with a reduced number of players after the expulsion of Argentine Ezequiel Avila.

At the beginning of the second half, another Argentine, Giovani Lo Celso, strengthened Betis' lead by adding the second goal... before Alex Baena reduced the difference by scoring the only goal for his team in the 55th minute, without sparing Villarreal that loss.

The match between Real Sociedad and its guest Las Palmas ended in a goalless draw. The match did not create many opportunities for either team, and what was available to them was not translated into a point for each team.

Source: beIN Sports