La Liga: Sampaoli drama sees Sevilla slip up in race for 3rd

A roundup of Sunday’s action in Spain’s top flight…

[ MORE: Saturday’s La Liga roundup — Madrid, Barca win ahead of El Clasico ]

Valencia 0-0 Sevilla

The drama surrounding Sevilla manager Jorge Sampaoli is weighing on his team off the field, and beginning to impact results on the field. The 57-year-old Argentine has been heavily linked with the national team job back in his homeland, and tensions reached a boiling point earlier this week when the club released a statement calling it “unacceptable” that the president of the Argentine football federation said he plans to meet with Sampaoli, who may or may not honor his contract through the end of the current season.

On Sunday, Sevilla failed in their bid to keep pace with Atletico Madrid, who won on Sunday, in the race for third place in La Liga, and the automatic place in next season’s UEFA Champions League group stage that comes with it.

Real Betis 2-0 Eibar

Coming into the weekend, Eibar were unbeaten in their last five league games (three straight wins), and Europa League qualification was looking a real possibility. On Sunday, a 2-0 loss away to 14th-place Real Betis, coupled with wins by fellow fifth- and sixth-place chasers Athletic Bilbao and Espanyol, and Eibar now sit eighth and trail Villarreal (who play on Monday), Bilbao and Real Sociedad by four, three and two points, respectively.

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Home	Away	PTS
Real Madrid	31	23	6	2	82	33	49	12-4-0	11-2-2	75
Barcelona	32	22	6	4	91	30	61	12-3-1	10-3-3	72
Atlético Madrid	32	19	8	5	59	24	35	12-2-2	7-6-3	65
Sevilla	32	18	8	6	56	39	17	11-3-1	7-5-5	62
Villarreal	31	15	9	7	45	24	21	9-3-4	6-6-3	54
Athletic	32	16	5	11	45	37	8	12-3-2	4-2-9	53
Real Sociedad	32	16	4	12	48	45	3	8-4-4	8-0-8	52
Eibar	32	14	8	10	52	44	8	9-3-4	5-5-6	50
Espanyol	32	13	10	9	44	42	2	8-5-3	5-5-6	49

Elsewhere in La Liga

Leganes 0-1 Espanyol
Granada 0-3 Celta Vigo

Monday’s La Liga schedule

Alaves vs. Villarreal — 2:45 p.m. ET

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