Real Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior celebrates his goal during the Spanish League football match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on March 1, 2020. (OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

MADRID - Second half goals from Vinicius Jr and Marcelo Diaz gave Real Madrid a deserved 2-0 win at home to FC Barcelona on Sunday night and took Zinedine Zidane's side back to the top of the Liga Santander.

Barca had the best chances in the first half, but saw Thibaut Courtois save twice from Arthur Melo and Leo Messi, but after the break Real Madrid were clearly the better side as they pinned Barca in their own half and provoked a series of errors from the visitors.

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Vinicius opened the scoring in the 71st minute after being given space to run on the ball, with his shot taking a deflection off Gerard Pique on its way through to goal

Vinicius opened the scoring in the 71st minute after being given space to run on the ball, with his shot taking a deflection off Gerard Pique on its way through to goal and although the game opened up in the last 20 minutes, Madrid always looked closer to a second goal, which came from substitute Marcelo with his first touch in the last action of the game.

Youssef En-Neysri scored a 93rd minute winner to give third place Sevilla a dramatic 3-2 win in a chaotic game in the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

Sevilla had taken a 2-0 lead through En Neysri and Lucas Ocampos and things looked all over for Osasuna when their keeper Sergio Herrera was sent off for a foul outside of his area.

However, Osasuna fought back against the odds with goals from Adriane Hernandez and a Roberto Torres penalty and looked to be heading for a heroic point before En-Neysri broke their hearts in injury time.

Getafe remain fourth after Nemanja Maksimovic's 66th minute goal gave them a 1-0 win away to third from bottom Mallorca, whose day was made worse by Salva Sevilla's 89th minute red card.

Atletico Madrid dropped to fifth after being held to a 1-1 draw away to struggling Espanyol, who took the lead in the 24th minute after the impressive Raul de Tomas forced an own goal from Stefan Savic.

Jan Oblak kept Atletico in the game before halftime and Saul Niguel gave the visitors a point with a shot from outside of the area in the first minute of the second half.

Real Madrid's Brazilian defender Marcelo controls the ball during the Spanish League football match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on March 1, 2020. (OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

Real Sociedad's excellent season continued and the side from San Sebastian warmed up for their Copa del Rey semi-final return leg away to Mirandes on Wednesday night with a workmanlike 1-0 win at home to Valladolid.

An Adnan Januzaj header just before the hour finished a well-worked move to give Real Sociedad all three points in a game where they did just enough to win.

Valencia lost striker Maxi Gomez to injury but second half goals from Kevin Gameiro and Dani Parejo were enough to give them a 2-1 win away to Betis, who netted an 92nd minute consolation goal through Loren Moron in the 92nd minute.

The result lifts the pressure on Valencia boss Albert Celades, but Betis' Joan Ferrer 'Rubi' is in danger of losing his job after a run of poor results.

Raul Garcia's second half penalty gave Athletic Club Bilbao a 1-0 win at home to Villarreal and ended a run of 10 games without a triumph. The home side would have won by more but for an excellent performance from Villarreal keeper Sergio Asensio, who saved a second penalty from Inaki Williams and produced several other fine stops to keep his side in the game until the end.

Brazilian striker Charles scored twice as Eibar claimed a vital win at home to Levante on Saturday lunchtime.

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Charles scored in the 26th and 47th minute and also missed a penalty before Fabian Orellana netted Eibar's third of the game with three minutes remaining.

Leganes remain in the relegation zone after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Alaves. Lucas Perez put Alaves ahead in a dour game in the first minute of the second half, but Guido Carrillo's header in the 58th minute gave Leganes a vital point.

Saturday also saw Granada rest several key players ahead of their Copa del Rey tie at home to Athletic Club as they were held 0-0 at home to an improving Celta Vigo.