Barcelona remain 10 points adrift of Sevilla after a 1-1 draw between the teams in LaLiga.
Sevilla took the lead through Papu Gomez in the 32nd minute but Ronald Araujo equalised just before half-time.
Sevilla’s hopes of significantly closing the gap to leaders Real Madrid were dealt a blow midway through the second half when Jules Kounde was sent off for throwing the ball in Jordi Alba’s face.
We take a point with 10 men.#SevillaFCBarçapic.twitter.com/fw6GpKE722— Sevilla FC (@SevillaFC_ENG) December 21, 2021
They held on for a point, though, and are now five points behind Real but still well ahead of Barca, who have won only one of their last five matches.
Villarreal’s revival continued with a 5-2 victory over struggling Alaves.
Gerard Moreno scored a brace on his return from injury, as did Boulaye Dia. Alaves came from two down to equalise through Pere Pons and Joselu but three goals in the final 15 minutes from Dia, Yeremy Pino and Moreno gave the Yellow Submarine the points.
Tuesday’s Serie A fixture between Udinese and Salernitana descended into farce with the away side prevented from travelling by their local health authority but the league refusing to postpone the match.
The match #UdineseSalernitana was not held due to @OfficialUSS1919 failing to show up#SerieA💎 #WeAreCalciopic.twitter.com/Ubg1qCRSlq— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) December 21, 2021
Three Salernitana players tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the game and, although they were prepared to travel, they were ordered not to do so.
The league, though, refused to postpone the fixture because the number of cases did not meet its threshold, meaning Udinese had to continue as if the contest was going ahead while knowing their opponents would not turn up.
Forty-five minutes after what was supposed to have been the kick-off time, the referee officially called off proceedings.
A message on Serie A’s Twitter feed read: “The match #UdineseSalernitana was not held due to @OfficialUSS1919 failing to show up.”
The same scenario occurred last year in a contest between Juventus and Napoli. Juve were originally awarded a 3-0 win and Napoli docked a point after they did not attend the game but the decision was overturned on appeal and the match rearranged.
The other two matches did go ahead, with Juventus defeating struggling Cagliari 2-0 and Genoa holding high-flying Atalanta to a goalless draw.
Moise Kean put Juve ahead with his sixth goal of the season late in the first half and Federico Bernardeschi made sure of the points seven minutes from time.
