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La Liga round-up: Antoine Griezmann nets Atletico Madrid winner against Espanyol

Antoine Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann's 16th La Liga goal of the season - and 100th of his career in Spain - was enough to allow Atletico Madrid to strengthen their grip on the final automatic Champions League place.

The France international struck with an angled shot 17 minutes from time as the visitors won 1-0 at Espanyol to move three points clear of fourth-placed Sevilla.

In doing so he became only the second French player, after Real Madrid's Karim Benzema (120), to bring up a century of La Liga goals.

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At the other end of the table Malaga eased their relegation fears with a commanding 2-0 home win over Valencia, which moved them up one place to 14th in the table, four points behind their opponents.

Jose Recio and Sandro got the goals, which came in the space of four first-half minutes, to move Malaga further away from the drop zone.

Recio opened the scoring when he nodded in from close range following a cross by Javier Ontiveros after 36 minutes.

The home side doubled their lead four minutes later when Sandro fired in from a set-piece routine. Federico Ricca headed the ball down and Sandro was in the right place to score from outside the area.

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Valencia's best chances came from a shot by Jony just before the break - which was saved by Diego Alves - and Carlos Soler's close-range miss just after the hour.

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Villarreal strengthened their grip on a Europa League spot with a 2-1 home victory over struggling Leganes thanks to a second-half brace from Cedric Bakambu, which included an injury-time winner.

After a first half of few chances the game came to life after 67 minutes when Bakambu netted following a pass from Roberto Soldado.

Cedric Bakambu celebrates his goal for Villarreal against Leganes
Image: Cedric Bakambu celebrates his goal for Villarreal against Leganes

Miguel Angel Guerrero thought he had earned his side a point with the equaliser in the last minute but Bakambu grabbed his second in injury time from a Jonathan dos Santos pass.

Villarreal goalkeeper Andres Fernandez made fine saves from Dimitris Siovas and Erik Moran to ensure his side took all three points.

Osasuna's survival hopes suffered a serious blow as they surrendered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at home to fellow relegation battlers Sporting Gijon.

The home side went ahead after 19 minutes when Jorge Mere scored an own goal from an effort by Kenan Kodro.

Osasuna looked to have wrapped up the points when Kodro grabbed his side's second from a Roberto Torres pass with 18 minutes remaining.

But Sporting pulled a goal back just seven minutes later through left-back Roberto Canella before Carlos Castro completed the comeback with nine minutes remaining.

The draw leaves Sporting four points off safety but Osasuna are nine points below 17th-placed Leganes with time running out.

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