La Liga: Barca drop points, Atletico beat Sevilla
Barcelona dropped points at Camp Nou for the first time in the campaign as they began 2010 with a 1-1 draw against Villarreal.
Having shown the fans the six trophies they won during 2009 prior to kick-off, Barca had looked to be on course to get the new year underway in style as Pedro put the ball into the net seven minutes into the match after Thierry Henry had hit the woodwork.
However, in-form Villarreal hit back early in the second half when Cani struck the ball across goal for David Fuster to fire in.
Atletico Madrid clinched a dramatic 2-1 victory over ten-man Sevilla as captain Antonio Lopez headed home a free-kick in injury time.
Sevilla went ahead just before half-time as a Renato header gave them hope of keeping pace with Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the table.
Atletico found themselves level just three minutes into the second half, though, as goalkeeper Andres Palop saved Diego Forlan’s shot only to see the ball bounce straight back into the net off defender Ivica Dragutinovic for an own goal.
Sevilla saw Aldo Duscher sent off as he was shown a second yellow card for a dangerous tackle on 72 minutes and, although they looked to have escaped with a point, Lopez had the left word as he was left unmarked in the area from a Simao set piece.
In the day’s early game, Valencia secured an injury-time 1-0 victory over Espanyol at the Mestalla.
Mid-table Espanyol looked to have done enough to have taken a point from the game as 90 minutes passed without either side finding a way to break the deadlock, but substitute Nikola Zigic popped up deep into stoppage time to head in a dramatic winner. — ESPN
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