Football
PA Sport 6y

Paco Alcacer, Barcelona beat Sevilla as Valencia keep pace; Atletico win late

Paco Alcacer took advantage of a rare chance to start by scoring a pair of goals, leading Barcelona to a 2-1 win over Sevilla on Saturday at the Camp Nou.

Alcacer, who had not started a league game since the opening day of the season, took advantage of a missed clearance to give Barcelona the lead midway through the first half.

However, Guido Pizarro was able to equalise for the visitors with a header following a corner just before the hour mark.

But Barca were back on top six minutes later as Alcacer poked the ball home from close range for his second goal of the night -- just seconds before coming off for Gerard Deulofeu.

Lionel Messi was booked for dissent in stoppage time while marking his 600th appearance for Barcelona in the win, which allowed the club to maintain their four-point lead atop La Liga.

Valencia kept pace and continued their storming start to the season with a 3-0 home victory over Leganes.

Unbeaten Valencia extended their winning streak to eight matches in all competition thanks to goals from Dani Parejo, Rodrigo and Santi Mina.

Captain Parejo opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a free kick that went under the jumping defensive wall, and Rodrigo added a second after 71 minutes when he headed home Andreas Pereira's cross.

Mina finished things off with an 82nd-minute penalty as second-placed Valencia moved to within a point of leaders Barcelona, who face Sevilla later on Saturday.

Thomas Partey scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner to hand Atletico Madrid a much-needed 1-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruna.

Atletico's title hopes looked set to suffer another setback at the Riazor as they stumbled towards what would have been a seventh draw in their last eight matches in all competitions.

However, with regulation time up and Atletico seemingly out of ideas, the Rojiblancos won a free kick 25 yards out which Gabi nudged to Thomas for the Ghana international to curl an unstoppable shot into the top corner.

The win was far from convincing and did little to answer Atletico's goalscoring problems -- they have not netted more than once in a game since September 23 -- but that will matter little to coach Diego Simeone as his side moved to within five points of leaders Barcelona, who face Sevilla later on Saturday.

In a surprise result, Alaves made the most of Mario Hermoso's first-half dismissal to beat 10-man Espanyol 1-0 and climb off the bottom of the table.

Gianni De Biasi's men had lost nine of their 10 LaLiga matches coming into the game, while scoring just four goals, but they were able to celebrate a rare victory thanks to Christian Santos' strike after just 45 seconds.

Alaves' cause was further helped by sending off of Espanyol defender Hermoso, who having already been booked picked up a second yellow card in the 39th minute.

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