Atletico Madrid lost 3-0 at Real Sociedad on Thursday, leaving Barcelona one victory away from clinching the Spanish league title.<\/p>\n
Barcelona, which drew 2-2 at Celta Vigo on Tuesday without most of its regular starters, can secure its 25th crown at Deportivo La Coruna on April 29.<\/p>\n
The Catalan club faces Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Barcelona has a 12-point lead over Atletico, with five matches left, and is 15 in front of third-place Real Madrid, which needed a late goal by Cristiano Ronaldo to draw 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Another loss for Atletico on Sunday against Real Betis would leave Diego Simeone’s team out of contention for the title because Barcelona holds the head-to-head advantage between the clubs.<\/p>\n
“Sociedad deserved the victory,” Simeone said. “They played a very good match.”<\/p>\n
Willian Jose put Sociedad ahead in the 27th minute at the Anoeta Stadium. Juanmi Jimenez made it 2-0 in the 80th after a perfect backheel from Jose before Jimenez scored again with an injury-time header.<\/p>\n
“We played very well against one of the best teams right now,” Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil said. “We are very happy with how things turned out for us.”<\/p>\n
It was a third straight win for Sociedad, which stayed 11th in the standings. Atletico hadn’t lost in three consecutive league matches.<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Boateng scored in the third minute of stoppage time to give Levante a 1-0 win against Malaga, relegating the bottom club to the second tier for the first time in 10 seasons.<\/p>\n
The result left Malaga 17 points behind 17th-place Levante, the first team outside the drop zone. Levante is seven points ahead of 18th-place Deportivo La Coruna.<\/p>\n
Real Betis defeated second from bottom Las Palmas 1-0, with a goal by Junior Firpo in the final minute of stoppage time keeping alive its slim hopes of making the Champions League next season.<\/p>\n
Fifth-place Betis moved within 10 points of Valencia, which is fourth, with a sixth straight league win, a feat it hasn’t achieved in nearly 60 years.<\/p>\n
Relegation is almost certain for Las Palmas as it is 13 points behind Levante.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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