Atlético pull clear as Madrid stutter in Bilbao

Club Atlético de Madrid are out on their own at the top of the Spanish Liga after taking full advantage of FC Barcelona's Saturday slip by beating Real Sociedad de Fútbol 4-0, while Real Madrid CF lost ground.

After being locked together with Barça for most of the campaign Diego Simeone's men finally broke three points clear in style. David Villa neatly tucked in Diego Costa's low cross on 38 minutes to open the scoring before Costa broke free 18 minutes from time to slot in a second. Miranda headed another two minutes later and Diego smashed into the roof of the net on 87 minutes on his second debut for the club.

Real Madrid had the chance to displace Barcelona in second and move within a point of their city rivals at the top but failed to negotiate a way past Athletic Club in Bilbao. Jesé turned in Cristiano Ronaldo's cross to put the visitors in the lead on 65 minutes, but Ibai Gómez's sweetly struck half-volley flew in via the post eight minutes later to earn a point for the fourth-placed side. To make matters worse for Madrid, Ronaldo was shown a red card two minutes after the equaliser.

Elsewhere, Elche FC moved up to 15th with a 1-0 win against UD Almería, while bottom side Real Betis Balompié boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop with a 2-0 win against RCD Espanyol, Rubén Castro scoring both.