MADRID, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Matchday 31 in Spain turned out to be a good one for Real Madrid who extended their lead at the top of the Liga Santander on Saturday night despite being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby.

Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann finished off a pass from Angel Correa to give Atletico a point in the 85th minute after a game in which Real Madrid had more chances only to be denied by Atletico keeper, Jan Oblak.

Thanks mainly to Oblak, all Real had to show for their efforts was a 55th minute headed goal from Pepe, who later had to leave the pitch with two broken ribs and will be sidelined for a month.

Those two dropped points meant that FC Barcelona stepped out onto the pitch in Malaga with the destiny of the league title in their hands; however, 90 minutes later a terrible performance saw them lose 2-0 in the La Rosaleda and drop a further point off the top of the table.

Barca brought Jeremy Mathieu, Denis Suarez and Andres Gomes into the side and were second best to Malaga in a match in which referee Gil Manzano also made a series of important errors.

Former Barca striker Sandro Ramirez opened the scoring in the 32nd minute and things went from bad to worse for Barca as Neymar was sent off for two yellow cards, before Jony sealed Malaga's win in the last minute of the game.

Sevilla defeated Deportivo la Coruna 4-2 to close the gap on Atletico after a chaotic first half in the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

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