Atlético Madrid 2 - Sevilla 1

Atlético: Leo Franco; Seitaridis (Galletti 63'), Perea, Pablo (Mista 75'), Antonio López; Maxi, Luccin, Costinha (Maniche 46'), Petrov; Agüero, Fernando Torres. 4-4-2.
Sevilla: Palop; Daniel Alves, Javi Navarro, Escudé, Antonio Puerta; Poulsen (Dragutinovic 55'), Martí; Jesús Navas, Renato, Adriano (Aitor Ocio 68'); Kanouté (Maresca 73'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Atlético: Fernando Torres for Mista / Sevilla: Antonio Puerta, Martí for David, Kepa.

Goals:
0-1. 39. Renato. Picked up ball on edge of area and drove shot past Leo Franco.
1-1. 85. Maxi. Connected with cross from left to fire shot wide of Palop.
2-1. 88. Maxi. Got on end of Fernando Torres cross to turn ball in from close up.

Last week's leaders Sevilla were beaten 2-1 by Atlético Madrid, who move level with them on points. The victory only came at the end of the game though, and Javier Aguirre's side were trailing for most of the time until the visitors had two men sent off.

The first chances fell to the home side, with Poulsen clearing off the line from Fernando Torres and Maxi Rodríguez hitting the bar. But otherwise the visitors were in command, with Kanouté in particular going close, and five minutes before half time Renato opened the scoring after a shot from Kanouté had been blocked by the defence.

Referee González Vázquez had been dishing out yellow cards with gay abandon in the first half, nine in all, and a couple of minutes after the restart Escudé picked up a second booking and had to leave the field of play. And as the tally rose Javi Navarro was also shown a second yellow card, leaving the Andalusians with nine men for the last quarter of the game.

Juande Ramos brought on extra defenders though, and for the next twenty minutes they held on, and could even have gone further ahead had Leo Franco not stopped Jesús Navas. But with five minutes to go Maxi equalised with a powerful shot from outside of the area, and three minutes later he struck home the winner after Torres set him up from the left wing. Sevilla had fallen to their first defeat since last April, and Atleti were just a point behind eternal rivals Real Madrid, who they visit next weekend.