Madrid, March 3 : Former winners FC Barcelona extended their lead at the top of La Liga, while Atletico Madrid overtook Real Madrid in a weekend of football that had some teams looking ahead to European competitions.

Barcelona are on 57 points from 18 wins in 26 matches with Atletico Madrid (56) and Real Madrid (54) following behind in the tight race for the title.

Here are some things we learned in Spain this weekend.

Perfect Sunday for Barcelona

FC Barcelona gave themselves a three-point cushion over Real Madrid and are a point ahead of Atletico Madrid after enjoying a placid Sunday afternoon at home to Real Sociedad.

The visitors hit the post in the opening minutes, but the game was as good as over when Aritz Elustondo was sent off for hauling down Dani Olmo after just 17 minutes, reports Xinhua.

It is the second time in two away games that the side from San Sebastian has been reduced to 10 men in the first half, and after Gerard Martin opened the scoring for Barca and Marc Casado deflected Olmo's shot into the goal, it was a question of how many goals Hansi Flick's side would score.

Flick was able to take off players such as Pedri and Raphinha, who will be grateful for the rest ahead of next Wednesday's UEFA Champions League visit to play Benfica.

Midfield and tiredness issues for Real

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was critical of his players after they let a 1-0 lead slip to lose 2-1 away to Real Betis on Saturday. Ancelotti's side looked tired at times, which is hardly a surprise, given that it has been playing two games a week since the start of the year, while the injury suffered by Dani Ceballos in Wednesday's Copa del Rey win away to Real Sociedad left Real Madrid lacking creativity in midfield.Thebad news for Ancelotti is that Jude Bellingham will not be available for the Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid on Tuesday due to accumilation of yellow cards in the competition.

Atletico take a chance against Athletic

Julian Alvarez came off the subs' bench to score the only goal of the game to give Atletico Madrid a narrow 1-0 win at home to Athletic Bilbao and lift them above Real Madrid three days before the two sides meet in the Champions League.The game between the third- and fourth-ranked teams always promised to entertain and it didn't disappoint, with 90 minutes of intense action where the visitors had arguably the better chances, only to see the woodwork repel two efforts from Inaki Williams and a Benat Prados header. Athletic had the chance of a win to put themselves right into the title race, but Alvarez was again decisive as he has been for most of the season.

Tense battle to avoid relegation

Sunday's lunchtime game between Leganes and Getafe was not a classic La Liga encounter, as both sides played a game of very few chances under constant pouring rain. The Leganes fans who turned up were rewarded for their loyalty when Diego Garcia scored a wonderful overhead kick in the second minute of injury time to give his side three points in its efforts to avoid relegation.

It was a vital win that kept Leganes out of the relegation zone on a weekend when Valencia, Las Palmas, and Alaves all got points away from home in what is becoming a tense battle to avoid the drop.

/IANS