Atletico Madrid and Valencia took advantage of Barcelona’s slip with wins that tightened the race among the top four. Antoine Griezmann scored his team-leading 13th and 14th league goals to lead Atletico to an easy 3-0 home victory over Almeria, lifting the defending champions to within three points of Barcelona. Valencia won 2-1 at side Cordoba to stay in fourth.
Manchester City cruise, Chelsea are held
Meanwhile in the English Premier League, Manchester City took full advantage of leader Chelsea dropping points by registering the biggest win of its English Premier League title defense, while Manchester United dropped to fourth by losing at Swansea.
After 10-man Chelsea was contentiously held to 1-1 by Burnley, City trimmed the gap on the leader to five points by sweeping aside Newcastle 5-0.
