Barcelona: Villarreal ended Atletico Madrid's streak of 27 straight home games without a loss in the Spanish league after striker Luciano Vietto scored late to grab a 1-0 win on Sunday.
Vietto received a pass and used a quick change of foot to shed Diego Godin before firing the winner past goalkeeper Miguel Moya with six minutes to play. The defending champions hadn't lost in the league at Vicente Calderon Stadium since May 12, 2013, a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona.
Atletico's loss left it seven points adrift of leader Real Madrid and three behind Barcelona, after the Catalan club stumbled 0-0 at Getafe on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Espanyol substitute Christian Stuani also scored late to snatch a 2-1 win over 10-man Granada, while promoted Eibar continued its impressive debut campaign in the top flight by drawing 0-0 at fourth-place Sevilla.
Real Sociedad also drew 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao under steady rain at Anoeta Stadium in coach David Moyes' first Basque Country derby.
Villarreal resisted Atletico's constant push with saves from goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo until searching for the late goal it found through Vietto's boot.
"The truth is that this was a very tough match," said the 21-year-old Vietto. "They have what I think is the best defense in Europe, but we managed to pull out the win."
Vietto is one of the quiet surprises of the season with eight goals in all competitions. Atletico coach Diego Simeone gave Vietto his debut at the age of 17 when they were together at Argentine club Racing in 2011.
"Even though he dealt us the defeat, I'm happy for Vietto because you could already see he had talent and today he demonstrated it with a great goal," Simeone said.
Villarreal's fourth win in a row lifted it into sixth place and a Europa League position.
Espanyol's Stuani raced in at the far post to volley home Lucas Vazquez's cross in the 90th after Granada was left a man down in the 82nd when Juan Carlos Perez received his second booking.
Vazquez had already played a part in Espanyol's first goal in the 34th when his deflected cross fell to Felipe Caicedo, who poked it past goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez.
Granada equalized through Youssef El Arabi in the 61st after Ivan "Riki" Sanchez-Rico made his season debut as a substitute to energize the visitors.
Espanyol rose to 11th place. Under first-year coach Sergio Gonzalez, the Barcelona-based side hasn't lost in seven straight home games after falling in its home opener.
Stuani, a starter in recent seasons, has flourished coming off the bench and leads Espanyol with six goals in the league.
"It was a very important goal after we lost at Barcelona (5-1)," said Stuani. "We had a debt to settle with our fans."
Granada, in 16th, remained winless in 11 rounds and two points above the relegation zone.
In San Sebastian, Carlos Vela headed Sociedad in front in the third. The hosts wasted a pair of good opportunities to score before Bilbao emerged the better side after halftime, with Oscar de Marcos leveling in the 61st.
Bilbao went down to 10 men in the 80th when Aymeric Laporte was sent off with a second yellow card, but the closest Sociedad went was Sergio Canales' free kick that hit the crossbar.
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