MADRID, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona retained their 5-point lead at the top of the Liga Santander on Sunday night but not before they were made to sweat until the very end by Leganes.
Ousmane Dembele (who later injured his answers) opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, but Martin Braithwaite, who in midweek scored the winning goal as Leganes beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the Copa del Rey, drew the hard-working side from Madrid, level in the 57th minute.
It was not until the 71st minute that Luis Suarez put Barca back in front, although Leganes complained that the goal should have been ruled out for dangerous play from the striker on 'Lega' keeper Pichu' Cuellar.
Leo Messi sealed the win deep into injury time after exchanging passes with Jordi Alba, but Barca have still to covnince in 2019.
Sunday began with Betis' Sergio Canales keeping his cool to score a 94th minute penalty to give his side a dramatic 3-2 win at home to Girona.
Cristian Tello had put Betis in front, but goals from Aleix Garcia and Seydou Doumbia gave Girona the lead, only for Loren Moron to make it 2-2 10 minutes after the break and set up the nerve-wracking finish.
Levante took their first win of 2019 as goals from Jorge Moreno and Roger Marti gave them a 2-0 victory at home to Valladolid, while Rayo Vallecano's upturn in form continued with a 2-2 draw at home to Real Sociedad, although the Madrid based side were denied a fourth successive triumph after goals from Santiago Comesana and Adrian Embarba had put them 2-0 up only for strikes from Hector Moreno and Willian Jose to peg them back.
Villarreal claimed a point at home to Athletic Club Bilbao, who had opened the scoring with an own goal from Jaume Costa in the first half.
Villarreal equalized thanks to Karl Ekambi, but Athletic complained the goal never should have stood as it began with a handball outside of the Villarreal area and the Basque side's indignation with referee Undiano Mallenco rose even further when he ruled out an 86th minute goal from Inaki Williams, which the VAR appeared to show was onside.
Real Madrid showed signs of improvement on Saturday when a 25-meter shot from Casemiro and a goal from Luka Modric gave Santiago Solari's side an important 2-0 win at home to Sevilla.
The result lifts Madrid over Sevilla into third place in the league table and there was a more positive feel around the Bernabeu than after recent tepid displays.
Atletico Madrid had few problems in maintaining their title challenge as Diego Simeone's men won 3-0 away to bottom of the table Huesca.
Lucas Hernandez opened the scoring for Atletico just after the half hour and further second half strikes from Arias and Koke, who was Atletico's best played in the game, sealed a win which helps Diego Simeone's side bounce back from the disappointment of their midweek Copa del Rey exit to Girona.
There were huge sighs of relief for Valencia coach Marcelino Garcia Toral, who watched his side come back from a goal down to win 2-1 away to struggling Celta Vigo.
Celta's defender, Nestor Araujo, had put the home side ahead 5 minutes from halftime, but a 71st minute goal from Valenica substitute, Ferran Tomas, and an 84th minute winner from Rodrigo Moreno, gave Valencia a vital lift, while leaving Celta in deep trouble.
Saturday night saw the weekend get off to a goal packed start as Getafe continued their incredible season with a 4-0 win at home to Alaves.
Jorge Molina and Jaime Mata scored twice each to strengthen Getafe's claim for a place in Europe next season and the disappointment for home fans is that the game was watched by less than 9,000 supporters.
