Atletico end Barcelona's winning run
Atletico Madrid again proved themselves to be Barcelona's bogey team when they ended the Spanish champions winning run with a 3-1 victory in the Nou Camp.
Atletico Madrid again proved themselves to be Barcelona's bogey team when they ended the Spanish champions winning run with a 3-1 victory in the Nou Camp.
"Today just wasn't our day," said Barca coach Frank Rijkaard.
Barca had notched up 14 straight wins to take them well clear at the top of the table but they were second best against the only side to have beaten them this season.
Atletico, who won 2-1 when the two sides met in Madrid earlier this season, were also the only side to beat Barca in the Nou Camp last season.
"We seem to be the only team that can beat Barca but that's just a coincidence," said Atletico coach Pepe Murcia, whose team have now won their last three games.
"Barcelona play open attacking football so it's logical that they will lose occasionally."
Fernando Torres, who scored both goals in Atletico's 2-0 win 12 months ago, showed that 78,000 baying Barca fans couldn't unnerve him by opening the scoring for the visitors after 33 minutes.
The Spanish international striker slotted home a loose ball after a defensive mix up between Gabri Garcia and Deco.
Maxi Rodriguez got Atletico's second a few seconds after the break, connecting with a Martin Petrov pass, before Henrik Larsson replied for Barca just after the hour.
However, Torres secured the victory with his second goal of the night 15 minutes from the whistle, firing home from left of the penalty spot after Maxi had nodded the ball over.
Barca were playing without both Samuel Eto'o, who was still recovering after missing the penalty which lead to Cameroon's African Nations Cup exit, and the suspended Ronaldinho.
It was the first time that Barca had been without both their stars in a league game since the pair arrived at the club in the summer of 2004.
Despite the surprise loss, Barca remain well on course for their second successive Spanish title with 52 points from 22 games and a nine-point advantage over their nearest rivals Valencia.
Valencia won 1-0 at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday thanks a stunning strike from their Spanish international David Villa.
Villa registered his 14th league goal of the season after 22 minutes, spotting Deportivo keeper Jose Molina off his line to find the net from nearly 50 metres.
Real Madrid remain in third, one point behind the 2004 champions, after crushing Espanyol 4-0 on Saturday.
Ronaldo marked his return to action, after three weeks out injured with a right calf strain, by getting his 10th goal of the season.
An opener after 13 minutes from Jose Maria 'Guti' Gutierrez and two goals from three-time World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane completed Real's scoring spree and kept up their unbeaten record in 2006.
Osasuna stay in fourth after their first win of the year, a 1-0 victory at Sevilla.
The only goal of the game came from a Savo Milosevic header just before the hour.
At the other end of the table, Alaves looked set to rise out of the relegation zone for the first time since September until Daniel Guiza's goal two minutes into injury time gave Getafe a 2-2 draw.
Guiza's shot from the edge of the six yard box kept Alaves just one place off the foot of the table.
Getafe had taken the lead after just three minutes from a Mariano Pernia penalty but Alaves equalised eight minutes later when Australian international John Aloisi headed home an Edu Alonso cross.
Rodolfo Bodipo put Alaves ahead with 18 minutes to go before Guiza's late leveller.
Real Mallorca slip to the bottom after they went down 2-1 at Real Sociedad, who won for the first time in six games.
All three goals in the game came from men signed in the last few weeks.
Sociedad's Danish striker Morten Skoubo scored from close range after 13 minutes before Mallorca's Leonardo Pisculichi marked his debut by equalising after 33 minutes.
However, the last word belonged to Sociedad's Mark Gonzalez, who moved from European champions Liverpool on Monday.
The Chilean international had been denied a work permit to play in the English Premiership but showed that he could have made the grade if he had been given a chance with a well-taken winner seven minutes before the whistle.