Barcelona's David Villa (L) vies for the ball with Getafe's Juan Valera. Photo / AP
Barcelona crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat at Getafe on Saturday and trail Real Madrid, who earlier beat 10-man derby rivals Atletico Madrid 4-1, by six points in the chase for La Liga title.
It was the first defeat of the season for the reigning Spanish and European champions as Getafe frustrated their illustrious visitors and grabbed the points thanks to a second-half header from Juan Valera.
"It's not a terrible defeat and there is a long way still to go in the season," said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.
In a scrappy game, Getafe surprisingly took the lead with practically their only effort on target in the whole game when Valera, left unmarked, headed in a corner after 67 minutes.
Deep into injury time, Lionel Messi had a golden chance to equalise but his shot came back off a post.
Barcelona's last defeat came on April 30 when they lost 2-1 at Real Sociedad.
Saturday's drama added an extra edge to the build-up to the first El Clasico meeting of the season between Real and Barcelona on December 10.
Real maintained their imperious form at the top as they beat a robust Atletico Madrid with the game turning on the first half dismissal of keeper Thibaut Courtois and a penalty converted by Cristiano Ronaldo.
It is 12 years since Atletico beat their rivals at the Bernabeu and they had a tough task against Real who were looking for their 13th successive win.
Atletico began with a high tempo and put their rivals on the back foot with an Adrian Lopez goal after 14 minutes.
The key moment of the match came mid-way through the first half when Karim Benzema was upended by the Atletico keeper who was red-carded and Ronaldo coolly slotted in from 12 metres.
Atletico coach Gregorio Manzano hinted his side would use a physical approach to keep Real at bay and the yellow cards piled up as the visitors looked to hold on.
After the break though, Ronaldo pulled the ball back for Angel Di Maria to put Real ahead and then substitute Gonzalo Higuain rounded the keeper after 64 minutes for the third.
Atletico were reduced to nine when defender Diego Godin was dismissed for a foul on Higuain in the box and Ronaldo scored his second of the match from the resulting penalty with nine minutes left on the clock.
"We didn't look to go out and cause any problems, we went out to play and to win and some people went home in pain. Luckily, the shinpads are made of carbon. They are expensive but they do their job," said Real coach Jose Mourinho afterwards.
"We did what we had to do. We played with discipline and only received one yellow card in the whole match. We maintained our calm and refused to respond to the provocation but I would have preferred a better game if I had paid to watch it."
Valencia continue to demonstrate there is no two-horse race in La Liga this season, as their 2-1 victory away to Rayo Vallecano put them a point behind Barcelona.
The bubble appears to have burst at Levante who have lost the past three games following their magnificent run which put them top of the table, and they will try to stop the slide on Sunday against Sporting Gijon.
- AFP
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