MADRID, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona's lead at the top of Spain's La Liga table was reduced to seven points on matchday 23 as they were held to a goalless draw by Getafe, while Atletico Madrid won 1-0 in Malaga.
Barça has only dropped two points at home all season, but failed to score for the first time this campaign against an organized Getafe defense that was able to keep Lionel Messi on a tight leash.
Perhaps Barça were tired following their Copa del Rey semi-final away to Valencia on Thursday, but with Getafe keeper Vicente Guaita also in fine form, they rarely looked like breaking down a rival that has failed to win in their last 14 visits to the Camp Nou.
Antoine Griezmann scored after just 40 seconds on Saturday as Atletico Madrid won 1-0 away to bottom of the table Malaga. The game was never in doubt after Atletico scored, and they were able keep their eighth clean sheet of the season.
Valencia remain third on the table after a tough 3-1 local derby win against Levante. Santi Mina's header opened the scoring for Valencia after 17 minutes, but Sergio Postigo equalized a minute later.
Levante defender Coke had a goal harshly disallowed early in the second half before Luciano Vietto put Valencia ahead 20 minutes after the break. Levante won't have been impressed by the late penalty decision which allowed Dani Parejo to score his side's third goal of the night.
Sevilla claimed just their second win in eight league games with a 1-0 win victory at home to Girona. Pablo Sarabia scored after Joaquin Correa's effort had been blocked on the line just 30 seconds after halftime.
Sevilla owed their win to goalkeeper Sergio Rico who pulled off a series of stunning saves, including a first half penalty save from an Aday Benitez penalty.
Celta Vigo and Espanyol drew 2-2 in Balaidos. Maxi Gomez scored twice for Celta Vigo to cancel out Leo Baptistao's opening goal for the visitors. Gerard Moreno assured a share of the points when he scored with three minutes left in the game.
Saturday saw Real Madrid prepare for their Champions League tie against Paris Saint Germain with an easy 5-2 win at home to Real Sociedad.
Real Sociedad made life easy for Zinedine Zidane's side with a series of defensive errors in the first half and fell behind in the first minute when Lucas Vazquez was given a free header.
An unmarked Cristiano Ronaldo doubled Madrid's lead in the 27th minute. Tony Kroos was given space at the edge of the area to score a third and Ronaldo had another free header to make it 4-0 by the 37th minute.
Ronaldo completed his hat-trick in the second half, while the visitors netted consolation goals through Jon Bautista and Asier Illaramendi.
Villarreal dropped three points in the race for the top-four when they lost 2-1 at home to Alaves, who have taken 19 points from the last 10 games.
Villarreal controlled the ball, but Alaves took a 2-0 lead through Rodrigo Ely and Ibai Gomez with goals in the 40th and 71st minute.
Carlos Bacca got Villarreal back into the game with 13 minutes remaining and Alaves were thankful for goalkeeper Fernando, whose late saves allowed them to hang on for the win.
Finally Ivan Ramis scored a 94th minute header to maintain Eibar's hopes of qualifying for Europe with a 1-0 win away to Leganes.
