MADRID (AFP) - Atletico Madrid had their brittle confidence shattered ahead of Wednesday's testing Champions League trip to Chelsea losing 3-0 at Osasuna on Sunday.
Osasuna scored three times inside the opening half hour as Atletico's suspect defence collapsed with Walter Pandiani scoring twice to take his season's tally to five before Carlos Aranda notched a third on 29 minutes.
Atletico languish 15th in the Spanish league with the worst defensive record after leaking 17 goals in seven games which does not bode well for the Stamford Bridge trip.
Madrid coach Abel Resino has been under pressure all season and the manner of the Osasuna loss will see the knives sharpened further.
"We paid the price for a lack of concentration," said Resino. "Osasuna played like a veteran side and won a match which was important for us to try and get in the right half of the table."
In the league, Atletico are just a point above the drop zone and in Europe the club have yet to register a win with a point from the first two group games.
Promoted Xerez ended a 62-year wait as they finally won their first game in the Spanish top-flight defeating Villarreal 2-1 to move off the bottom of the table at their opponents' expense.
Antonito scored a controversial 79th-minute winner for Xerez's historic win as Villarreal and their under-pressure coach Ernesto Valverde experienced a new low.
"It's a first small step but very important mentally," said Xerez coach Jose Ziganda.
"It was a tough game and we were made to suffer as they had some clear chances. However, we had some luck today that we didn't have in previous matches."
Veteran French midfielder Robert Pires had put Villarreal ahead in the 17th minute but Mario Bermejo equalised in the 42nd minute and Antonito struck the decisive blow 11 minutes from time despite protests of a handball.
"I thought we were going to score a second with all the chances we had," bemoaned Valverde.
"However, they scored a questionable second goal since we should have had a penalty for the foul on Cani and then the clear handball of (Carlos) Calvo."
Goal-scorer Pires took his frustrations out after the match by insulting referee Antonio Rubinos Perez who reported the Frenchman in his post-match report.
The top four teams were all in action on Saturday as champions Barcelona saw their lead at the top shaved to a point following a 0-0 draw at Valencia.
"We tried to win the match but they caused us problems," said Barca coach Pep Guardiola. "We aren?t capable of winning 38 games in a season."
Real Madrid defeated Valladolid 4-2 to close to within a point of Barcelona and move three points ahead of Sevilla who saw a sequence of five wins come to an end with a 1-0 loss at Deportivo La Coruna.
La Coruna are having a fine season and four straight wins have helped them up to fifth.
Real Mallorca thrashed Getafe 3-1 on Sunday with a brace from Aritz Aduriz helping them move above Valencia into fifth two points off the top four.
In other matches, Espanyol overcame Tenerife 2-1 on Sunday thanks to a brace from Ivan Alonso.
Tenerife have yet to collect a point on their travels and are a single point above the relegation zone.
After starting with three wins Athletic Bilbao are on the slide and fell to a 2-1 home loss against Sporting Gijon to make it a solitary point from the last 12.
Meanwhile, Sporting climb to seventh as they look to beat the drop for a second successive season.


AFP/Josep Lagoview photo
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AFP/view photo







Comment 1 - 1 of 1
Both A.madrid and chelsea are having dsame problem in their defend.i hope they would ve learn a lesson in d last match played.
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