La Liga, Round 30: Real Madrid loses at Sevilla, Atlético Madrid and Barcelona win

The result wasn’t an easy one to come by for Atleti, though they never looked much like conceding a goal. They were well on top in the first half, but struggled for clear chances. They did find the back of the net once in the first 45 minutes, but their goal was disallowed because of a foul by Diego Godin.

Atleti’s goal eventually came off a set piece, scored unsurprisingly by Diego Costa. Jose Sosa got the assist with a corner, but his ball was hardly aimed expertly at anyone’s head. Instead, it was sent into a mass of humanity, from which Costa emerged to find the ball and power a header past Roberto, giving the Rojiblancos the only goal they’d need.

Ronaldo just missed his second goal of the match in the 43rd minute, beating Beto and chipping the ball over the goalkeeper. The ball hit the post and somehow managed to not cross the line before Nicolas Pareja could race in and clear it away.

The frantic end-to-end pace from the first half carried over into the second 45 minutes but as the minutes went by, Sevilla started to drop deeper and look winded as Madrid set-up camp in their attacking third.

Barcelona got off to a great start, taking the lead in the sixth minute thanks to the boot of Neymar. Lionel Messi helped start the play, delivering a ball into the path of Alexis Sánchez as he broke past the Celta defense live. Sánchez wanted for the lone defender and goalkeeper Yoel to commit to his run before centering to Neymar for the easy tap-in.

Celta appeared to earn a penalty in the 20th minute when the ball hit Adriano’s hand. After some discussion between the referee and the linesman, the Barca defender was shown a yellow card and the visitors got a free kick on the edge of the box. Both calls were correct, but the aftermath of the ensuing free kick could be catastrophic for Barca’s season.

Valdés went up to stop a free kick and landed with all his weight on his right knee. The goalkeeper was able to stand back up for a moment and them immediately went down in pain. There was little hesitation as a cart was brought out and Valdés was taken off the pitch with his hands covering his face.

At this point the exact nature of the injury is complete speculation, but based on the fact it was a non-contact injury and Valdés showing clear distress and frustration in the wake of going down will not give Barca fans many positives to cling to. If there’s ligament damage, chances are Valdés season is done, along with his Barcelona career as he’s leaving the club this summer when his contract expires.

Jose Enrique returns to the Camp Nou with a Celta Vigo side that has won just once in their last five matches. Celta will get a defensive boost as they welcome back two defenders, Gustavo Cabral and Jon Aurtenetxe, from suspension.

Barcelona injuries and suspensions

Real Madrid must quickly forget about their loss against Barcelona and prepare for a tough test against surging Sevilla on Wednesday.

Sevilla have won five straight matches, moving all the way up to fifth place in the process. After a rocky start, Unai Emery has turned their season around and a win over Real Madrid would be a huge notch on the belt, so to speak.

Despite the fact there are still stories being written about the weekend’s eventful Clásico, La Liga motors on with a full round of mid-week games from Tuesday to Thursday.

Real Madrid face the toughest match, at least on paper, of the three title contenders as they travel to face fifth-place Sevilla.