Since the 2020\/21 La Liga fixtures were announced on the last day of August, matchday 25 was always going to be one of the biggest, with Atl\u00e9tico Madrid looking to extend their La Liga lead.<\/p>\n
Three games, in particular, stood out. Sevilla hosted Barcelona<\/a> for the Saturday lunchtime kickoff. The following evening, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid<\/a> travelled to Villareal and on Monday, Real Sociedad took on Real Madrid<\/a> in the Spanish capital.<\/p>\n In the previous campaign, all six teams had finished in the league\u2019s top six places and ahead of the weekend, all the teams were once again in the top six.<\/p>\n Third-placed Barcelona<\/a> started off the weekend with an impressive 2-0 win over Sevilla, who sat just two points behind them in fourth. A Lionel Messi assist for Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 in the 29th minute opened up the scoring and a late penalty from Messi sealed the victory in southern Spain.<\/p>\n The win sprang Barcelona into second place, just two points behind Atl\u00e9tico Madrid in La Liga and marked their fifteenth consecutive match unbeaten in the league and second consecutive clean sheet.<\/p>\n After a rough start to the season, in which they won just four of their first ten matches, including losses to Alt\u00e9ti and arch-rivals Real Madrid, Ronald Koeman\u2019s men<\/a> have turned it around.<\/p>\n Their victory over Sevilla marked their first win in a big match in La Liga all year. Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo hailed the result as \u201cthe best Barcelona of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBar\u00e7a had completed a great first half, probably one of the best of the season, in one of the most complicated fields,\u201d Barcelona editor Joan Poqu\u00ed wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the match, Sevilla midfielder Joan Jordan said the visitors had been comfortable in the ground in which Barcelona had been routed by Los Nervionenses<\/em> just two weeks earlier in the Copa del Rey<\/a> semi-final.<\/p>\n Centre-back Gerard Piqu\u00e9 added to the sense of optimism emerging among the Barcelona players, telling a post-match press conference that the Catalans were very much alive and in the title race.<\/p>\n \u201cUsually when I come here and I have a microphone in front of me, it\u2019s something bad,\u201d Piqu\u00e9 said, as cited by\u00a0the Guardian<\/a>. \u201cThis time it\u2019s a pleasure; today I can say I\u2019m very proud of the team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve shown that this team is very, very alive. 2021 has given us reasons to be confident,\u201d he added. \u201cNo, the situation isn\u2019t perfect but we hope to achieve something. Is there a title race? Of course, there is. Much worse things have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n The following day, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid took the pitch against Villareal in La Liga. With just two points separating them from Barcelona and three from Real Madrid, Diego Simeone\u2019s men desperately needed a win.<\/p>\n After a superb start to the season<\/a>, Los Colchoneros<\/em> had stumbled in the league<\/a> of late, winning just one of their previous four matches and dropping as many points in two weeks as they had in the previous five months. Over a month, their ten-point lead at the top of the table had nearly evaporated.<\/p>\n On top of that, Villareal sits at the bottom of the list when it comes to Alt\u00e9ti\u2019s favourite places to play. Since the start of the Diego Simeone era in 2011, only Barcelona and Real Madrid have better records against Los Colchoneros<\/em> than Villareal do. Heading into Saturday, Atl\u00e9tico had not won at La Cer\u00e1mica<\/em> in La Liga in five years, losing three of those matches.<\/p>\n Simeone was aware of all this on the touchline as the match kicked off and his suffering was apparent as Villareal had the better of the opportunities, with a strike from Gerard Moreno forcing a world-class save from Jan Oblak.<\/p>\n Just ten minutes later, however, At\u00e9ti scored after a cross from Thomas Lemar was headed in by centre-back Stefan Savic, but a heavy deflection ruled it as an own goal.<\/p>\n After going ahead, Atl\u00e9ti reverted to the side they were two years ago. They sat back and defended for their lives. Villareal continued to create chances, with seven of their 20 shots on target. By comparison, Atl\u00e9ti managed just six shots, of which five were on target.<\/p>\n However, the Yellow Submarines would not get past the Atl\u00e9ti defence and eventually, they scored a second goal courtesy of Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix in the 68th minute. The strike sealed the victory for Simeone\u2019s men, who pulled five points ahead of Barcelona with a game in hand and six ahead of Real Madrid.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very important victory because we have achieved it on a difficult field. We get three points. And we are very happy about it,\u201d Savic said<\/a> in the post-match press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team responded in difficult moments, and that is what gave me the most joy,\u201d he added. \u201cWe knew how to suffer. After the first half, we were 1-0 on the scoreboard and we knew that in the second half they were going to push us. The team knew how to hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n Next up for the league leaders are Real Madrid. The two sides face off at the Wanda Metropolitano on March 7.<\/p>\nAtl\u00e9tico Madrid Extend La Liga Lead After Real Madrid Stumble<\/h2>\n
Barcelona Play Their Best Football of the Campaign<\/h3>\n
Alt\u00e9tico Extend Lead At the top of La Liga After Tough Win<\/h3>\n
Real Madrid Drop Points Against In-Form Real Sociedad<\/h3>\n