Madrid, April 12 (IANS) FC Barcelona moved nine points clear at the top of La Liga after a 4-1 home win over Espanyol in a Catalan derby and Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw at home to Girona.

Ferran Torres scored the opening goal for Barcelona, who looked to recover from its UEFA Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid, with a header from a corner after just nine minutes to end his scoring drought dating back to January 31. He then doubled the lead after Lamine Yamal delivered an audacious pass with the outside of his foot in the 25th minute.

Torres was denied a hat-trick after a very tight offside against Eric Garcia in the second half, just moments before Pol Lozano’s shot from the edge of the penalty area gave Espanyol hopes of a point, reports Xinhua.

Frenkie de Jong returned after injury with eight minutes left to play, and four minutes later Yamal made the win safe for Barcelona, as he raced onto a through ball from Marc Casado before beating Espanyol goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.

Marcus Rashford made it 4-1 two minutes later when he hooked home a volley after Barcelona caught Espanyol flat-footed on the break.

Atletico Madrid, which beat Barcelona in midweek, made sweeping changes to the lineup for its visit to Sevilla and suffered a 2-1 defeat against a side that kicked off the game in the bottom three.

Sevilla went ahead with Akor Adams’ penalty following a foul by Dani Martinez, one of many changes in the Atletico starting 11.

Atletico leveled through B-team player Javier Bonar, who’s on his first team debut, but Nemanja Gudelj put Sevilla back ahead in injury time with a powerful header from a corner and Atletico failed to equalize again in the second half.

Real Sociedad warmed up for next weekend’s Copa del Rey final by twice coming back from behind before eventually drawing its Basque derby 3-3 at home to Alaves.

An own goal by Duje Caleta-Car gave Alaves an early lead but Luka Sucic quickly leveled. Ibrahim Diabate restored the visitor’s lead in the 24th minute, only for Real Sociedad to again level with a stroke of fortune when Benat Turrientes’ shot hit the post and bounced in off Alaves goalkeeper Antonio Sivera.

Orri Oskarsson looked to have headed the winning goal after Takefusa Kubo nodded the ball across the area to give him with a simple finish in the 60th minute, but Lucas Boye saved a point for Alaves in the seventh minute of extra time.

Elche climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 home win over Valencia thanks to Lucas Cepeda’s 73rd-minute goal.

–IANS

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