Barcelona lose as Real Madrid go top of La Liga

Real Madrid are now top of the Spanish La Liga table

Madrid, Nov 2 FC Barcelona lost their first home game of the season and dropped to third place in the Spanish Primera Liga after a shock home defeat to Celta Vigo in the Camp Nou stadium, thereby giving arch rivals Real Madrid sole lead in the football league.

Barca's defeat, which follows on from last week's 1-3 loss at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, coupled with Real Madrid's 4-0 win away to Granada and Atletico Madrid's victory against Cordoba sees them drop to third place in table from joint top, reports Xinhua.

The Catalans were frustrated to see four balls bounce back off the visitors' woodwork and on another occasion could have taken all three points but at times lacked the cohesion and fluidity that has won them so many trophies in recent years.

Earlier in the day, Real Madrid chalked up their 11th successive win as they steamrollered their way past Granada in the Los Carmenes Stadium 4-0 thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored his 17th league goal of the campaign after just two minutes.

James Rodriguez made it 2-0 after 32 minutes with a dipping volley and the result was put beyond doubt when Karim Benzema turned from provider to goalscorer.

The Frenchman scored his fifth league goal of the campaign on the day he celebrated his 250th Real Madrid appearance with a cool finish after Ronaldo backheel put him through.

James rounded off the scoring in the closing minutes.

Atletico Madrid had to fight hard before ultimately defeating Cordoba 4-2 in the Vicente Calderon stadium, thanks to three goals from set pieces .

Antoine Griezmann netted his first goal for the club in the 44th minute as Atletico struggled to break down a side which has not won all season.

Nabil Ghilas scored a header from a corner to draw Cordoba level nine minutes after halftime, but Griezmann's second of the game just three minutes later put Atletico back in front and Mario Mandzukic's header just after the hour assured the points, although there was still time for Raul Garcia's header to be deflected into the net by a defender and for Ghilas to net his second of the game with two minutes remaining.