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La Liga: Villarreal go top after beating Atletico Madrid

Villarreal's players celebrate their victory
Image: Villarreal's players celebrate their victory over Atletico Madrid

Villarreal moved to the top of the Primera Division on a day that saw title rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona suffer setbacks.

While Villarreal enjoyed an impressive 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid - the goal scored by Leo Baptistao against his parent club - Real dropped points and Barca lost their leading light Lionel Messi for up to eight weeks.

Yevhen Konoplyanka's first league goal for Sevilla earned them a 3-2 victory against Rayo Vallecano and saw Los Rojiblancos climb off the foot of the table.

Sevilla looked to be coasting to their first domestic win of the season as they led at the break courtesy of goals from Kevin Gameiro and Steven N'Zonzi, but Bebe and Javi Guerra struck to wipe out their two-goal lead.

Antonio Amaya's red card gave the hosts the advantage again and substitute Konoplyanka, signed from Ukrainian club Dnipro in the summer, capitalised with four minutes remaining.

Lionel Messi is substituted after getting injured during the La Liga match between Barcelona and Las Palmas
Image: Lionel Messi is substituted after getting injured

Earlier in the day, Barcelona sealed a 2-1 win over Las Palmas, briefly replacing Real at the summit after they were held to a goalless draw at the Bernabeu by 10-man Malaga.

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Highlights from Barcelona v Las Palmas and Real Madrid v Malaga

But the loss of Messi, who took an early blow during a collision with Pedro Bigas and is now expected to be out for up to eight weeks with knee ligament damage, made it a bittersweet day.

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Luis Suarez's double was enough to secure the points for Barca at the Nou Camp, with Jonathan Viera's deflected goal late on reducing the margin.

Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after a missed chance
Image: Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after a missed chance

Real Madrid will wonder how they failed to put away Malaga, having had 31 attempts on goal and two strikes disallowed, one from Cristiano Ronaldo in the eighth minute and one from Isco in stoppage time.

The door appeared to open for them when Nordin Amrabat was dismissed with 13 minutes still to play, but Rafael Benitez's side could not beat visiting goalkeeper Carlos Kameni.

Finally, Eibar were held to a 1-1 draw at home to by Celta Vigo in the final game on Saturday.

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