Atlético Madrid and Barcelona stumbled to draws on Sunday, tightening the Spanish league title race, with Real Madrid only one point behind the joint leaders.
Barcelona’s potent attack, led by Lionel Messi, was held 1-1 at Levante, leaving the door open for Atlético to claim sole possession of top spot later but they conceded a second-half penalty at home to Sevilla to finish 1-1 as well and squander the chance to lead the standings for the first time since September 2010.
Atlético started brightly when David Villa rifled in a clearance by the Sevilla goalkeeper Antonio Bastos in the 18th minute at Vicente Calderón Stadium. They did not seriously threaten to extend their advantage and were undone when the defender Juanfran Torres pulled down the striker Carlos Bacca by his shirt. Ivan Rakitic fired the spot-kick into the corner of the net, just out of the reach of Thibaut Courtois, for the 73rd-minute equaliser.
Sevilla finished with 10 men when Alberto Moreno was sent off with a straight red card for a low tackle in the 90th.
Real and Barça, the world’s two richest clubs by income, have dominated La Liga over the past decade but Atlético have emerged as title contenders this season under their Argentinian coach, Diego Simeone.
“The whole Sevilla bench celebrated at the end of the match as if they had won a final and that shows that teams respect us,” the Atlético full-back Felipe Luis said. “Teams have changed the way they play against us and now they don’t come here to win,” added the Brazilian.
“They always put a lot of people behind the ball and we find it tough to create scoring chances but we haven’t lost here and we just have to keep improving. Physically the team is in good shape but competing against two teams [Barça and Real] who have players on the bench worth €40m or €50m is very tough.”
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