Madrid: Atletico Madrid made sure Barcelona has to wait a little longer to celebrate the Spanish league title.
With a 3-2 win over Valencia on Wednesday, Atletico cut Barcelona's lead to nine points and kept the Catalan club from clinching the title — at least until the weekend.
Barcelona defeated Alaves 2-0 on Tuesday and would have sealed its second straight league trophy — and eighth in 11 seasons — if Atletico lost at home. Now it will have to wait until Saturday, when a win over relegation-threatened Levante at Camp Nou Stadium would be enough. The Catalan club can also secure its 26th title if Atletico loses its match at Valladolid earlier on Saturday. A draw by Atletico will leave Barcelona needing only a point against Levante. "We are doing our part," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. "But Barcelona has had a great season and I'm sure it won't miss its chance to win the title on Saturday."
With four matches remaining, Barcelona holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against Atletico, which is trying to finish runner-up for the second straight season. It has a seven-point advantage over third-place Real Madrid, which visits fourth-place Getafe on Thursday.
Valencia, which had won four in a row in all competitions, stayed fifth in the standings, two points behind Getafe in the final Champions League spot. Valencia has reached the Copa del Rey final — it will face Barcelona on May 25 — and the semi-finals of the Europa League — when it will play Arsenal. Substitute Angel Correa scored the winning goal for Atletico with a curling shot from outside the area in the 81st minute, giving Atletico its fifth win in its last six matches, with the only setback a 2-0 loss against Barcelona at Camp Nou four rounds ago.
Striker Alvaro Morata opened the scoring for Atletico while Antoine Griezmann put them ahead early.