体坛英语新闻：Barca lose but stay top in Spain as Real and Atletico Madrid both drop points

MADRID, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- There was a weekend of surprise results in the 12th round of games in Spain's Liga Santander as FC Barcelona crashed to their third away defeat of the campaign while Real Madrid was held at home to struggling Betis and Atletico Madrid had to settle for a draw away to Sevilla.

Barca opened the scoring away to Levante thanks to a Leo Messi penalty in the first half, but lost Luis Suarez through an ankle injury and then saw how everything fell apart in a disastrous seven-minute spell just after the hour.

A poor ball from defense allowed Jose Campano to equalize after Borja Mayoral had set him up inside the Barca area on the hour.

Mayoral made it 2-1 for Levante just two minutes later as he fired home from 25 meters and Nemanja Radoja sealed the win in the 67th minute with a shot which took a shot deflection off Sergio Busquets.

Barca's defeat opened the door for Real Madrid to go top, but Zinedine Zidane's side fired blanks in their 0-0 draw at home to Betis.

Eden Hazard had a goal ruled out by the VAR, but that was as good as it got for a Real Madrid side that ran out of steam as the game progressed.

It was very much a "game of two halves" in Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium with Sevilla playing better in the first 45 minutes and taking the lead through a Fran Vazquez header.

The second half saw Diego Costa come on as a substitute for Atletico and after he had a header ruled out for offside, Alvaro Morata leveled the score with his fourth goal in four games.

Costa had a chance to win the game from the penalty spot but was denied by a brilliant saw from Sevilla keeper Tomas Vaclik.

Real Sociedad striker Portu scored twice to give his side a 2-1 win away to Granada that lifts them up to third behind Barca and Real Madrid.

The former Girona forward opened the scoring in the 21st minute only for a bad error from visiting keeper Alex Remiro to gift Alvaro Vadillo a 36th-minute equalizer. The game looked to be heading for a draw before Porto netted the winning goal after a pass from Adnan Januzaj.

Fran Escriba looks likely to lose his job at Celta Vigo after his side slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Getafe thanks to Kenedy's 37th-minute strike for the visitors.

Eibar also won away at home with goals from Charles and Kike Garcia, who netted the winner six minutes from time to give them three points against rock bottom Leganes.

Valencia came back after conceding a Marc Roca penalty to beat Espanyol 2-1 thanks to a Dani Parejo spot-kick and a 79th-minute header from Maxi Gomez.

Valladolid continue their positive season with a 3-0 win at home to Mallorca thanks to goals from Joaquin Fernandez, Enes Unal and an injury time goal from Sandro Ramirez.

Athletic Club Bilbao keeper Unai Simon produced several excellent saves to give his side a 0-0 draw away to Villarreal who had scored in their last 20 games in front of their fans.

Finally there were three penalties in the derby between Osasuna and Alaves, which Osasuna won 4-2 thanks to goals from Ruben Garcia, Chimy Avila, Roberto Torres and Juan Villar, with the last two goals both coming from the penalty spot.