As Sevilla stuns Villarreal, Ferran Torres earns Barcelona a narrow victory over Atletico.

Atletico Madrid came in as Spain’s most in-form side, but Torres scored from the edge of the box in the 44th minute to secure victory for Xavi Hernandez’s side. Both teams had clear chances to score in the second half, but Barcelona held on to defeat Atletico for the first time since their January meeting at the Metropolitano.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen made a fine save to deny Antoine Griezmann an equaliser as the hosts recorded their 23rd clean sheet of the season in La Liga. I’ve always said Marc is among the top three goalkeepers in the world, and for our game, I think he’s the best, Xavi said to reporters.
He’s a guarantee, as is our defence — defensive work is critical, and Marc has been decisive at various points. Xavi restored Frenkie de Jong to the starting lineup after an injury, but Pedri was relegated to the bench after a two-month absence.
Griezmann almost scored against his former team almost immediately, rattling the crossbar with a fine effort from distance within the first minute. Just before halftime, Barcelona broke the deadlock when Raphinha controlled a long ball and crossed to Torres on the edge of the box, who swept the ball home past Jan Oblak.
It was Barcelona’s first goal since Torres’ strike against Elche on April 1, capping off a three-game drought. In the second half, Barcelona introduced Pedri to roars from the Camp Nou.
Gavi and Raphinha both misfired from close range in the space of a few seconds, putting the game out of reach before Ter Stegen saved Griezmann’s clever flick.
source: Reuters
It’s a fact that being decisive makes you a champion — if you’re strong in both boxes, you have a much better chance of winning, Simeone said. Barcelona had another golden opportunity to score a second goal, but Robert Lewandowski shot wide from distance as he and Raphinha raced through on goal.
A simple pass would have provided an open goal for the Brazilian, but desperate to improve his poor goalscoring form in 2023 (he has only four league goals since the turn of the year), Lewandowski went alone and scuffed his effort wide.
Ferran is the happiest man in the world; Raphinha and Lewandowski are a bit sad, Xavi added. I’m happy because the team won, but sad because they didn’t score. With 17 goals, Lewandowski leads the team; imagine how the others feel.
The Polish striker was not punished for his carelessness, as Barcelona won despite a late handball appeal against Sergio Busquets. Sevilla produced another impressive victory against Villarreal, sixth, after knocking Premier League giants Man United out of the Europa League in midweek.
Andalusians are unbeaten in six games under coach Jose Luis Mendilibar and far more solid than under his predecessor Jorge Sampaoli, climbing to 12th, eight points above the bottom three.
Rafa Mir put Mendilibar ahead in the first half, but Villarreal defender Pau Torres equalised from close range. Sevilla’s Jesus Navas came close to scoring with a low drive that whistled past the post, but En-Nesyri, who scored twice against United, sent the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan into raptures once more in the 94th minute.
Valencia won 2-0 on the road against bottom-of-the-table Elche, but they remain in the relegation zone (18th) because they have a worse head-to-head record than Almeria (17th).
Getafe’s 3-1 loss to Mallorca drops them to 16th place, one point ahead of Almeria and Valencia.