La Liga 2013, Week 20: Real Sociedad upsets 10-man Barcelona; Falcao injured in Atletico win

Athletic managed to survive several waves of pressure from Betis and finally got a good chance of their own in the 21st minute. The initial ball in to the Betis box was headed away right towards Ander Herrera who unleashed a wicked volley shot from about 20-yards out with all sorts of movement on it. Fortunately for the home side, their goalkeeper Adrián was up to the task, making a fantastic diving save and pushing the ball out for a corner.

The steady pressure from Athletic paid off right five minutes before halftim when Ander found Aritz Aduriz with a well timed pass as the striker caught Betis’ high line defense a bit flat footed. Aduriz raced in uncontested on Adrián and easily chipped the keeper, pulling Atletico even at 1-1.

Madrid opened the scoring in the 9th minute when Di Maria received an excellent through ball from Ronaldo on the counter attack. He wasted no time cutting the ball back to Gonzalo Higuaín who blasted a shot past Diego Alves. Ronaldo was as his creative best again in the 34th minute, helping to played a glorious give and go with Mesut Özil, before crossing the ball back across play to an unmarked Di Maria for an easy tap-in.

Less than two minutes later it was Ronaldo’s turn to put the ball in the net rather than setting up his teammates. The Portuguese striker made a run at the Valencia defense, blew past a defender with a fancy step over to the left and fired a shot past Alves in the bottom corner, making it 3-0 to Madrid.

The win moves Atletico within eight points of the league leaders Barcelona, still a sizable gap but certainly small enough to keep hope alive.

Valladolid earned a 2-0 victory over Zaragoza in the middle of a rainstorm at the Estadio Nuevo José Zorrilla. Valladolid opened the scoring in the 12th minute as Óscar González brought down a ball in the box and settled in on to the foot on Javi Guerra who turned quickly at beat Roberto Gago. Óscar added a second goal with 15 minutes left to play, securing the full three points.

Kike Sola put Osasuna in front in the 26th minute after getting on the end of a cross from Emiliano Armenteros and beating Daniel Aranzubía with a rather fancy aerial finish. Deportivo will be none to pleased after seeing the replays that showed Sola was clearly offside on the play, but officials missed it and the goal stood.

Deportivo managed only one shot in the first half and it wasn’t that good of an effort by Riki that was easily dealt with by Andres Fernandez.

The second half started much like the first with neither side looking particularly dangerous or very inclined to attack. It took until the 76th minute for something to final happen and it was the visitors who found the equalizer.

The goal from basically nothing as Celta send a probing ball in the center of the Malaga box towards Álex López. The Malaga defenders successfully played the pass and cut off López but the ball trickled on the foot of Augusto Fernández who wasted no time sending a low ball through traffic and past Wilfredo Caballero.

Sevilla took the lead in the 40th minute after a deflected ball at the top of the Getafe box was back heeled by Ivan Rakitic to a charging Reyes who placed his shot top corner over the outstretched hand of Getafe keeper Miguel Moya.

The lead was short lived.

Things started badly for Rayo when Jordi Amat inadvertently put Grandada ahead in the 24th minute, directing Allan Nyom’s cross past his own goal keeper. In his defense, there really wasn’t much he could as he was under heavy pressure from Ighalo on the play.

Rayo actually fought back well after the goal, coming close a couple times. Medina Piti had a great chance that he fired just over the crossbar and Granada goalkeeper Fernandez Roberto made some fantastic saves to keep his side in the lead.

Sociedad kept up the pressure in the second half and things turned in their advantage in the 55th minute when defender Gerard Piqué brought down Vela and earned his second yellow card of the match and the corresponding marching orders that come with a red card.

They were quick to take advantage finding an equalizer in the 62nd minute. Castro’s shot from the left side of the box deflected off Javier Mascherno and Valdes was only able to get his fingertips on the ball, not enough to prevent it from finding the back of the net and pulling Sociedad even at 2-2.

There aren’t any “flashy” games on the schedule but there are plenty of interesting match-ups that will help further define the race for European spots and who is in serious relegation danger.

(21:00 CET, 3:00PM ET)