Barcelona’s 100-point bid ends in loss in Spanish league
Barcelona’s hopes of reaching the 100-point mark in the Spanish league ended with a 0-1 loss at Alaves.
Barcelona clinched its second straight league title on Sunday with a 2-0 win over rival Real Madrid at home and needed three wins in its last three matches to reach 100 points. The loss on Wednesday ended an 11-game winning streak for the Catalan club.
“A little bit disappointed about the result, we all wanted to win today,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said. “But at the end I saw good things, I’m happy with the performance of the team.”
Alaves’ players provided a guard of honour for Barcelona’s team before the match, lining up and applauding their rivals as they entered the field.
It was a big win for Alaves, which moved out of the relegation zone with the result. It reached 15th place with 40 points, one point clear of the bottom three with two rounds left.
“We are not clear yet, but it was a big step,” Alaves forward Toni Martinez said. Ibrahim Diabate scored the winner from inside the area in first-half stoppage time.
Alaves hadn’t earned a clean sheet in 20 straight league matches. Barcelona had scored at least once in 56 straight league matches.
Espanyol wins again: Espanyol beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at home to end an 18-game winless streak and move further away from the relegation zone. Pere Milla scored in the 69th and Kike Garcia in stoppage time to give Espanyol its first win of the year. Its last victory had been in December at Athletic.
The result moved Espanyol to 14th place, while Athletic stayed ninth.
Sevilla moves up: Sevilla also gained some breathing room after it rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 at Villarreal.
It was the third victory in a row for Sevilla, which moved to 10th place, four points from the relegation zone.
Villarreal stayed in third place, but only three points ahead of fourth-placed Atletico Madrid, which won 2-1 at Osasuna on Tuesday.
Mallorca in danger: Mallorca lost 3-1 to Getafe at home to stay in 17th place, just outside the relegation zone. Mallorca has only one win in its last five games.
Getafe was seventh, in position to qualify for European competitions.
Oviedo has already been demoted, but 10 teams are within four points of each other near the bottom of the table going into the last two rounds.
