Sevilla flop, Levante slump again

Levante lost 3-2 at Atletico Madrid on Sunday for their third straight defeat since they surprisingly went top of La Liga last month.

The tiny Valencia-based club, whose annual budget of around 20 million euros ($27 million) is less than a 20th of leaders Real Madrid, went on a seven-match winning run, including beating Real 1-0, that put them top for the first time in their 102-year history in October.

Goals from Portuguese forward Pizzi, Spain Under-21 international Adrian and Brazilian playmaker Diego secured victory for erratic Atletico at the Vicente Calderon, lifting them to ninth on 16 points from 12 matches.

Levante stay in fourth place on 23 points.

The table took on a more familiar look on Saturday when leaders Real Madrid and second-placed Barcelona pulled further away at the top thanks to victories over Valencia and Real Zaragoza respectively.

Real edged a thrilling and bad-tempered clash at the Mestalla 3-2 for their eighth win in a row, while champions Barca thumped Zaragoza 4-0 at the Nou Camp, La Liga top scorer Lionel Messi netting his 15th of the campaign.

Real, who host their great rivals in the opening 'Clasico' of the season on December 10, have 31 points from 12 matches, three ahead of Barca.

Valencia, the last club apart from the big two to win the title, back in 2004, are third on 24.

DEFENSIVE ERROR

Sevilla's poor run continued when they lost 2-1 at home to Athletic Bilbao in an earlier kickoff, their fifth successive game without a win.

Andoni Iraola fired Bilbao ahead in the sixth minute at the Sanchez Pizjuan and Spain winger Jesus Navas equalised nine minutes later before a defensive error allowed Oscar de Marcos in to net the winning goal with around 20 minutes left.

Bilbao had to wait until October 2 for their first league win under new coach Marcelo Bielsa but have since gone unbeaten in six, including a 2-2 draw at home to champions Barcelona.

Sevilla stayed in fifth on 18 points and Bilbao climbed to sixth on 17, level with Malaga ahead of their game at Racing Santander on Monday.

In Sunday's other matches, Espanyol were held to a 0-0 draw at bottom club Real Sociedad, Sporting Gijon came from a goal down to beat visiting Getafe 2-1 and Osasuna and Rayo Vallecano drew 0-0 in Pamplona.