MADRID, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The top of La Liga got more congested this weekend after Atletico Madrid won at home to Mallorca, Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat away to Espanyol and FC Barcelona won at home to Alaves.
Robert Lewandowski scored the only goal of the game on Sunday as Barca made hard work of a rival that dropped into the bottom three as a result of their defeat.
The Polish striker reacted well after 61 minutes to volley home after Lamine Yamal's cross was deflected into his path as Barca looked to up their game after a dull first half saw Hansi Flick's side manage just one shot on target.
Alaves were content to sit back and hold out for a draw until Barca's goal, but after Lewandowski's opener, they failed to improve and ended without a single shot to trouble Wojciech Szczesny in the Barca goal.
Espanyol left-back Carlos Romero scored six minutes from time as his side relegation-threatened side beat Real Madrid 1-0 on Saturday night.
Romero finished off a swift counter-attack from Omar Hilali with a left-foot shot after Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia had made some big saves to keep his side in the game.
Real Madrid were angry as Romero hadn't been sent off earlier in the game for a lunge from behind on Kylian Mbappe, and they suffered an injury setback with Antonio Rudiger forced out of the game with a hamstring injury that will sideline him for three weeks.
Atletico Madrid won 2-0 at home to Mallorca with Samuel Lino opening the scoring in the 25th minute after a counter-attack launched by Robin Le Normand, with Antoine Griezmann scoring with a chip in injury time.
Atletico also suffered a setback with Le Normand seeing a yellow card that means he is suspended for next week's vital Madrid derby.
Athletic Bilbao remains fourth after twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 away to Real Betis, who were inspired by the debut of on-loan winger Antony.
Antony set up the opening goal when Unai Simon saved his shot, but Isco poached the rebound.
Aitor Paredes leveled from a corner that Betis goalkeeper Adrian punched onto his head, but an error from Unai Simon gifted Betis' second on the stroke of halftime as he failed to gather Romain Perraud's shot from outside of the area.
Athletic's second goal also came from a corner as fit-again Oihan Sancet headed past Adrian with 20 minutes left to play.
Villarreal strengthened their place in fifth and moved to within four points of Athletic with a 5-1 win at home to bottom-of-the-table Valladolid that was never in doubt after Ayoze Perez opened the scoring in the 41st minute to put Villarreal ahead.
Pape Gueye, Santi Comesana, Thierno Barry and Denis Suarez all scored in the second half, before Selim Amallah netted for Valladolid in the 93rd minute.
On Sunday, Osasuna ended a run of nine league games without a win as Ante Budimir scored twice in their 2-1 win at home to Real Sociedad who paid the price for a lack of efficiency in front of goal four days before the two sides meet again in the Copa del Rey.
Orri Oskarsson netted a late consolation for Real Sociedad in the 94th minute.
Getafe and Sevilla kicked off on Saturday with a scrappy 0-0 draw where each side managed just one effort on target.
Valencia recovered from last weekend's 7-1 thrashing in Barcelona to take a vital 2-1 win at home to Celta Vigo, with Luis Rioja putting them ahead on the stroke of halftime and Javi Guerra scoring the winner in the 68th minute, just three minutes after Pablo Duran had drawn Celta level.
The result leaves Valencia second from bottom, while Celta is slipping towards the danger zone after taking just one point from the last 12.
Rayo Vallecano continued their unbeaten run with a 1-0 win away to Leganes on Friday night after Leganes had defender Sergio Gomez sent off.
Pathe Ciss poked home Rayo's winner in the 77th minute but the visitors had to thank goalkeeper, Augusto Batalla after he saved a twice-taken Leganes penalty in injury time. ■
