Barca home loss gives hope to title challengers

Barcelona will have given some hope to their rivals that they can still grab the Spanish title after the league leaders crashed 2-0 at home to Atletico Madrid, with both goals coming from Fernando Torres.

The defeat was Barcelona's first in their Nou Camp stadium for nearly 13 months.

Torres' opener came after just 37 seconds after Ariel Ibagaza had cheekily volleyed a ball forward off the back of his heel towards the Spanish international striker.

He then controlled the ball with his head before outsprinting Carles Puyol down the right side of the box, although his final touch was miscued and the ball trickled into the goal.

Barcelona flung everything at Atletico for the rest of the game, although the visitors were equally dangerous on the counter-attack and they added to their tally four minutes into injury time.

Torres scored from the penalty spot after the rampaging forward had been brought down by Barca keeper Victor Valdes.

The scoreline was a little unfair to the hosts as they had two decent claims for penalties turned down, and the often-erratic Atletico defence was a model of solidity.

Barca have 51 points from their 22 games but their lead at the top of the Spanish first division was reduced to four points after their second-placed bitter rivals romped to a 4-0 victory over Espanyol on Saturday.

Reigning Spanish champions Valencia stay third but only on goal difference after they drew 3-3 at Real Sociedad on Saturday.

Sevilla bounced back from their 4-0 mauling at home to Barcelona a week ago to beat Levante 3-0 and move up to fourth.

"From the first minute we went out there to win this game," said Sevilla coach Joaquin Caparros.

"It was just a question of time before the goals started to arrive. I threw in a number of players who were not used to playing regularly because I wanted to shake things up and show everyone that I had confidence in them."

"I took some risks but then you always have to take risks."

Antonito Ramiro opened the scoring for Sevilla after 32 minutes, chesting down a long ball and then blasting it past Levante keeper Juan Luis Mora on the half-volley.

Ariza Makukula then added Sevilla's second 10 minutes after the break when his vicious shot from just outside the area took a deflection off the Levante defender Inaki Descarga to completely fool the unfortunate Mora.

Julio Baptista finished off Sevilla's afternoon in style with a stunning free kick six minutes from the whistle.

Villarreal extended their unbeaten streak to nine games after beating Racing Santander 2-1, a result which moved the home side up to fifth and sent Racing spiralling into the relegation zone.

Mario Regueiro unleashed a thunderbolt from 35 yards to put Racing in front after 23 minutes.

However, Racing were reduced to 10 men after 33 minutes when Walid Regragui picked up his second yellow card and Villarreal got back on top in the second half.

Villarreal's prolific Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan finished off a well-worked team effort three minutes after the break for their equaliser, the former Manchester United player getting his 10th goal in eight games.

Juan Roman Riquelme then bagged the winner from the penalty spot after 67 minutes after Racing's Jose Moraton had brought down Rodolfo Arruabarrena.

"We were rocked when Racing went in front, but the game became much more open after the sending off," admitted Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini.

"But I think we still deserved to win when you think about all the opportunities we created."

Real Betis improved their their own chances of European football next season, and move up one place to sixth, after their 3-1 win over Osasuna with goals from Assuncao, David Rivas and Ricardo Oliveira.