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MADRID, Spain -- Atletico Madrid took full advantage of Barcelonas rare slip-up as it pummeled Real Sociedad 4-0 on Sunday to take sole possession of the lead in the Spanish league for the first time this season. Quincy Williams II Youth Jersey . David Villa, Diego Costa, Miranda, and the newly arrived Diego scored the goals that put Atletico clear at the top of the standings, having shared the lead with Barcelona for much of the campaign. Atletico holds a three point advantage over Barcelona and Real Madrid after Athletic Bilbao rallied to draw 1-1 against Madrid, which finished without Cristiano Ronaldo after he was red carded. Substitute Ibai Gomezs volley cancelled out Jese Rodriguezs opener for Madrid, which played the final 15 minutes a man down after Ronaldo was sent off for swiping his hand across Carlos Gurpegis face following a shove from his opponent. The contact seemed light, but Gurpegi fell to the ground as if hed been hit hard. Atletico honoured former player and coach Luis Aragones before the match and fed off the emotion at the Vicente Calderon Stadium to boost its attempt to break the Barcelona-Madrid monopoly with a first championship since 1996. Barcelona lost 3-2 to Valencia on Saturday, and Atletico did not waste the opportunity to go top by itself for the first time since that championship-winning season. Not since Valencias league title a decade ago has a club other than the big two won the Spanish league. Diego Costa was lively from the start, and the Brazilian-born Spain striker fed Villa inside the box in the 38th minute to finish off a quick break by scoring the opener. Villa sustained a leg injury moments later and had to be replaced by Raul Garcia. With the home fans chanting Aragones name throughout, Atletico came alive in the second half as Garcia found Diego Costa racing free between defenders in the 72nd and the forward beat goalkeeper Claudio Bravo with a right-footed shot for his 20th league goal of the season. Two minutes later, Miranda headed home a corner kick out of Bravos reach for 3-0 before Diego, who came on in the 58th for his first appearance in his return to the club, marked his return to Atletico by dribbling into the box to unleash a rising shot into goal with three minutes remaining. "This is something nice for the players, who have made such effort and go into every single game with the same intensity and work ethic," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. "Luis would appreciate the teams courage, since he was a courageous type with character, just like this team." Atletico leads with 57 points, while Barcelona and Madrid share 54 points. Jese lunged to guide Ronaldos cross into the area beyond goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz for the 65th-minute opener in a game that was dominated by Bilbao up to that point. Gomez made up for earlier misses by Aritz Aduritz and Ander Herrera when he ran onto a cleared ball outside the area to rip an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Diego Lopez in the 73rd. The intensity boiled over moments later when Ronaldo and Gurpegi tangled, the Ballon dOr winners straight red card means he will miss Madrids next game. "Its difficult when you lose a player without reason," Madrid defender Marcelo said. "Its already difficult to score one point here but Madrid has the obligation of winning every game. So (the red card) made it tougher." Gomez nearly scored the winner in the 85th from another volley but Lopez tipped it over as Bilbao improved to 43 points in fourth. Earlier Sunday, Cristian Herreras second-half goal gave Elche a 1-0 victory against Almeria to lift the club above its relegation adversary, while Ruben Castro scored two goals as last-placed Real Betis beat Espanyol 2-0 to end a four-game losing streak. Elche improved to 24 points, two more than Almeria which is 17th. Valladolid is 18th with 20, Rayo Vallecano has 17 and Betis 14. All games held a minutes silence in honour of Aragones, the former Spain coach who died on Saturday at age 75. Telvin Smith Youth Jersey . Both the top-seeded Djokovic and sixth-seeded Fish took relatively easy paths, with the Serb winning when opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired in the second set with a sore arm and Fish dominating Janko Tipsarevic in two quick sets. Gardner Minshew II Youth Jersey . THE THUNDER & PACERS BENCHES: In a nutshell, not impressive at all. http://www.officialjacksonvillejaguarspro.com/Nick-foles-jaguars-jersey/ .L. - Defending womens champion Alberta improved to 3-0 at the Canadian junior curling championships with a 10-3 win over Ontario in Sundays afternoon draw.PHILADELPHIA - The outcry started before Jermain Defoe officially left the Toronto FC books.Carpetbagger. Bloody big embarrassment. Perhaps the biggest high-profile bust in recent Toronto sports history.And there was worse.Toronto FC fans may grit their teeth at the 32-year-old Defoes comments to the Daily Mirror after passing a medical and working out Wednesday for Sunderland.I felt so sharp, said Defoe, whose lone season in Toronto was cut short by injuries. All that hard work has paid off. I cant wait to start scoring goals for Sunderland.Everybody knows how much I love English football and I still feel that I have a lot to offer. People might look at my age, but I have always looked after myself and I hope I can show that with my performances.Sunderland visits Defoes old stomping grounds on Saturday when it plays at Tottenham.Amidst the vitriol, Toronto FC coach Greg Vanney chooses to think of the positives of Defoes time in MLS.When he was motivated and focused and healthy, he was for me the best player in the league, the best striker in the league, Vanney said Wednesday ahead of the MLS SuperDraft.I think he was scoring a goal every two shots. Arguably if we could have got him more chances, it would have maybe even have been crazy the number of goals he could have scored.Defoe scored 11 goals in his first 13 games in MLS. But the England star didnt connect again, missing 12 of the next 18 games through injury or suspension.At some point in the season between national team stuff, injury, a number of things, there was an apppearance of sort of a lack of motivation to still be there, Vanney said. Quincy Williams II Jersey. And maybe we didnt see exactly the best of him and maybe a lot of that had to do with injury, I dont know what percentage was what. But clearly when he was motivated and on his game, there have been few strikers if any in our league that have been as good as him.We wouldnt have won as many games at the beginning of the year if we didnt have him, thats for sure. He definitely carried more than his fair share early on in the season. And I think that had some of us thinking that we were really on path to have a great season. And really without Jermain we would not have been in the same place.And so all the other stuff that happened is obviously a long story and a sage and everything else. But on his game he was fantastic, thats true.Ryan Nelsen, the former TFC manager and ex-Premier League player who helped bring Defoe to Toronto, also spoke highly of the striker.He is a great player and myself, more than anyone, wished he stayed and scored goals for Toronto, he told The Canadian Press in a text. But this happens in football. The key is to maximize the situation by being creative in the market to benefit the club moving forward.The anger at Defoe seems more motivated by the Its a Bloody Big Deal campaign Toronto ran around Defoes arrival — a full-on marketing campaign that, like the team, did not deliver.The England striker also never became the face of the franchise as perhaps ownership intended.___Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter ' ' '