Football
PA Sport 9y

Barcelona beaten by Sevilla, Malaga add to Moyes pressure at La Real

Barcelona lost their first Primera Division match since Lionel Messi's injury as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Sevilla in a riveting game at the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Michael Krohn-Delhi gave the hosts the lead after 52 minutes and Vicente Iborra increased the advantage six minutes later, capitalising on awful defending from the Catalans.

Neymar pulled one back for Luis Enrique's side but, despite dominating the latter stages and hitting the woodwork three times over the course of the game, the champions could not find an equaliser and fell to a second straight away defeat.

Barcelona were ravaged by injuries going into this game, with Messi, Andres Iniesta, Rafinha, Thomas Vermaelen and Adriano all out, but Sevilla had a total of seven players missing, even though their manager Unai Emery remarked on the eve of the match that it was ''the perfect time'' to face Barcelona.

A last-gasp winner from Alex Menendez saw Sporting Gijon beat Espanyol 2-1 and pick up their second win of the season.

The winger restored the visitors' lead in stoppage time after Felipe Caicedo had cancelled out Alen Halilovic's first-half wonder-goal, taking Sporting up to 10th place in the table, just one point behind the Catalans.

The Asturians had most of the ball in the early stages, with Halilovic the architect of their attacking play.

It was no surprise that it was the Croatian who put the visitors in front. Right-back and captain Lora dispossessed Victor Alvarez in midfield and the ball fell into the path of Halilovic, who took one touch before sending the ball spinning high into the net from 25 yards.

Malaga beat Real Sociedad 3-1 to end their goal drought and increase the pressure on La Real manager David Moyes.

Malaga had set a record by becoming the first team in Liga history not to score in their opening six fixtures but a hat trick for striker Charles Dias de Oliveira finally gave their season a sense of momentum.

Imanol Agirretxe scored for La Real yet after they went 2-0 behind, yet, for all of their efforts and Malaga being reduced to 10 men, an equalising goal ultimately eluded them and Charles' third took a point beyond their reach.

Borja Baston scored for the fourth time in three league matches as Eibar defeated Las Palmas 2-0 at Estadio de Gran Canaria.

The visitors moved seventh in the table after ending a five-game winless streak, Saul Berjon getting the ball rolling in the seventh minute before Baston's wonderful second-half effort.

For struggling Las Palmas, this was a tame follow-up to their close 2-1 defeat by Barcelona last weekend.

A second-half equaliser from Piti rescued a point for Granada and denied Deportivo La Coruna a third straight Primera Division win as the teams played out a 1-1 draw.

The forward's 65th-minute strike cancelled out Fayal Fayr's goal midway through the first half to give the Andalusians their first point in five matches, lifting them off the foot of the table for 24 hours at least.

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