Alvaro Morata's first-half double fired 10-man Atletico Madrid to a 2-0 victory at Real Sociedad Sunday as Diego Simeone's men kept their slim La Liga title hopes alive. The Spain international striker scored twice in three first-half minutes as Atletico cut the gap to leader Barcelona back to seven points after the reigning champion's 1-0 Clasico win over third-placed Real Madrid Saturday. Midfielder Koke was dismissed just after the hour mark, but Atletico has now won three straight league games after back-to-back defeats by Real Betis and Real Madrid last month had ended an 18-match unbeaten run. "The sending off of Koke ended the game as we had planned it," said Atletico coach Simeone. "We had to defend, make ourselves strong in our penalty area and take a game that was very important to win." After a slow start to the contest, Morata gave Atletico the lead on the half-hour mark by nodding home after Thomas Lemar's corner was flicked on by Diego Godin. The 26-year-old, who went four games without a goal after joining on loan from Chelsea in January, made it three in two matches shortly afterward, having opened his Atletico account last weekend against Villarreal. Once again it was a set-piece that did the damage, as Morata climbed highest to meet Koke's right-wing free-kick with a downward header into the bottom corner. Sandro Ramirez nodded over as Sociedad started the second half strongly, and the host was given renewed hope when Koke was sent off for a second yellow card in the 62nd minute. Mikel Merino came close to halving the deficit with 14 minutes remaining as away goalkeeper Jan Oblak had to produce a fine save to prevent his header from finding the top corner. But Atletico closed out the win to move five points clear of city rival Real, and more importantly, remain in with a chance of lifting a first major trophy since winning the league title in 2014. Earlier Sunday, little Getafe gave its hopes of qualifying for a maiden Champions League campaign a massive boost with a 2-1 victory at fellow European hopefuls Real Betis. Real Betis remains seventh, but six points adrift of Getafe. Valencia backed up its Cup exploits as Rodrigo and Kevin Gameiro scored in a 2-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao to move into seventh, just six points behind Getafe. Celta Vigo sacked Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso after a 1-0 defeat at Eibar left it just one place and two points above the relegation places. Balotelli strikes Mario Balotelli scored a superbly acrobatic volley and Florian Thauvin added a penalty to give Olympique de Marseille a 2-0 win over a toothless St Etienne Sunday that lifted it above its visitor and into fourth place in Ligue 1. Mercurial striker Balotelli held off Loic Perrin and twisted his body to volley the ball home from a corner in the 12th minute, before celebrating by grabbing a cellphone from a photographer in the Stade Velodrome to record the moment. Thauvin struck the second from the spot nine minutes later following a handball by Mathieu Debuchy, sealing a straightforward win that put Marseille fourth on 44 points, one ahead of St Etienne. Earlier in the afternoon, Olympique Lyonnais forward Moussa Dembele struck two second-half goals to round off a thumping 5-1 win over visitor Toulouse in their clash at the Groupama Stadium. Lyon is now five points behind second-placed Lille, which won 1-0 at home to Dijon, and 22 adrift of runaway leader Paris Saint Germain, which has 71 points. Elsewhere, bottom side Guingamp secured a point with a scoreless draw at home to Nantes while Nice beat Strasbourg 1-0. — Agencies
