BARCELONA BEATEN AT HOME

A review of the weekend's action so far in the Spanish Primera Division.

Barcelona's preparations for their Champions League clash with Manchester City were rocked as they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at home against Malaga.

Twenty-one-year-old Juanmi scored the only goal of the game after just seven minutes following a glaring mistake by Dani Alves and Barcelona never recovered, producing a sluggish display which knocks a huge dent in their title hopes.

The Catalans passed up the opportunity to go top of the table and instead remain a point behind league leaders Real Madrid, who had the opportunity to extend their advantage to four points by winning at Elche on Sunday evening.

Barcelona must now regroup for the trip to Manchester and the last-16 European clash with City on Tuesday evening.

Antoine Griezmann scored twice as Atletico Madrid claimed a comfortable 3-0 win over Almeria.

Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring with a controversial penalty before Griezmann's brace ensured the game was over as a contest inside the first half-hour.

Guilherme Siqueira was sent off in stoppage time for the Rojiblancos but it made little difference as they took advantage of Barcelona's defeat to Malaga to move within three points of the second-placed Catalans.

Valencia tightened their grip on fourth place by beating Cordoba 2-1 thanks to a late winner by Pablo Piatti.

Andre Gomes gave the visitors the lead towards the end of the first half but Nabil Ghilas levelled for the league's bottom side in the 72nd minute, only for Piatti to put Valencia in charge again with nine minutes remaining.

This was a hard-fought but deserved victory for Nuno Espirito Santo's side, who have now won back-to-back away games for the first time this season, and picked up a third straight win. Cordoba meanwhile slumped to a fifth straight defeat and are five points from safety.

Celta Vigo claimed a Galician derby double as second-half goals from Charles and Joaquin Larrivey earned them a 2-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruna.

On Friday night, Getafe gave themselves breathing space in the battle to avoid being relegated with a 2-1 win over Espanyol.

The Azulones had not beaten Friday's opponents in the league at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez since January 2006, but ended that much-maligned record thanks to goals from Pablo Sarabia and Alvaro Vazquez.

Anaitz Arbilla pulled one back late on, but it was not enough to stop Quique Sanchez Flores' men moving up to 11th and seven points clear of the bottom three.