BARCELONA, Spain -- Atletico Madrid moved one step closer to its first Spanish league title in 18 years on Sunday with a 1-0 victory at Valencia, while Lionel Messi completed an emotional 3-2 comeback win for Barcelona at Villarreal two days after the death of former coach Tito Vilanova. Atletico midfielder Raul Garcia scored with an impressive header in the 43rd minute, and its defence did the rest as it gave Valencia no chance to rally at its Mestalla Stadium. Diego Simeones side moved six points clear of Real Madrid, which has a game in hand, while Barcelona remained within four points after coming from two goals down to beat Villarreal in its first game since the death of Vilanova. Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets wept as the two teams gathered at the centre circle before kickoff at El Madrigal Stadium to observe a minutes of silence for Vilanova, who died on Friday after a battle with cancer, having led Barcelona to the league title last season. Vilanova was honoured similarly across Spains first division this weekend. Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta said his team had been "very affected" by Vilanovas death, who was honoured this weekend by more than 50,000 people who attended a memorial site at Camp Nou. "It has touched all of us," Iniesta said. "I will take with me the example he set for us, both when he was with us and after." Ruben "Cani" Gracia and Manuel Trigueros scored from counterattacks for Villarreal to go 2-0 up by the 55th minute. But Villarreal then self-destructed with own goals by Gabriel Armando in the 65th and Mateo Musacchio in the 78th, both redirecting passes by Dani Alves into their teams net. Messi finally beat goalie Sergio Asenjo after Busquets and Cesc Fabregas combined to set the forward up to net his 27th league goal of the campaign and reach the 40-goal mark in all competitions for the fifth straight season. Earlier, Garcias ninth goal of the league season kept Atletico on course for its first league title since 1996. With a better head-to-head record against Madrid, Atletico can clinch the domestic crown by winning two of its remaining three games. It first plays at Levante, then hosts Malaga, and finally travels to Barcelona. "We have two very powerful teams behind us that will surely win all their games and we cant relax for even one day," Simeone said. "I ask my team to go forward with the same sense of calm knowing the importance of each result." Atletico can now focus on the Champions League semifinals as it travels to Chelsea on Wednesday after a 0-0 draw in the first leg. Again, Atletico snuffed out their opponents attack for a ninth straight victory. The pacesetters have only conceded one goal during their winning run while scoring 14. Atletico resisted Valencias early push and then went forward in search of an opening goal that came just before halftime. Garcia used an exquisite flick of the head -- with his back to goal -- to lift Gabi Fernandezs lobbed pass over goalkeeper Vicente Guaita and bouncing in off the post. Atletico defender Juanfran Torres was shown a direct red card for tackling Pablo Piatti in stoppage time. Also, Athletic Bilbao routed 10-man Sevilla 3-1 at home to deal a blow to its main rival for fourth place and Spains last Champions League berth, while Almeria fought back for a 2-1 win at nine-man Espanyol to move to within two points of safety. Forward Markel Susaeta got the Basques rolling in the fifth minute by scoring a rarely seen goal directly from a corner kick, curling the ball from the corner flag inside the near post to beat goalkeeper Antonio "Beto" Bastos. Right back Andoni Iraola then served two crosses for Iker Muniain to volley in the 54th and Ander Herrera to head home moments after Sevillas Diogo Figueras picked up a second booking in the 72nd. Kevin Gameiro scored Sevillas consolation goal in the 79th. The win lifted Bilbao six points clear of fifth-placed Sevilla. "This win over Sevilla is huge, but this isnt over," said Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde. "We are knocking on the door. We are three points away from the Champions League, which would be a dream for everyone." Cheap Authentic Air Max 720 . He spent the rest of the game making up for lost playing time. Green scored a career-high 36 points, including eight in overtime, and the Phoenix Suns beat Denver 112-107 on Tuesday night to hand the Nuggets their fifth consecutive loss. Air Max 720 Free Shipping . TSN 1290s coverage begins with Hustler & Lawless at 3pm. Rick Ralph hosts the Official Jets Pre-game Show at 5pm. http://www.cheapairmax720frees.....pping.com/ . Now the Minnesota Vikings have set their sights on soccer. Wholesale Air Max 720 . But that changed when he committed a five-minute major penalty and helped pave the way for a comeback by the Philadelphia Flyers. Vincent Lecavalier scored at 2:45 of overtime and the Flyers rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 5-4 victory on Sunday. Cheap Air Max 720 Sale .C. -- Gleason Fournier scored the shootout winner as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Abbotsford Heat 4-3 Friday in American Hockey League action.Winnipeg Jets 3 Columbus Blue Jackets 2 – The win puts the Jets back at .500 on the season and a game above .500 on the road at 8-7-1. Jets are now 5-2 in their last seven road games. The win also snapped a three game winless streak for the Jets. The road trip continues Tuesday in Buffalo (TSN Jets, TSN 1290), the fourth back to back situation for the Jets this season. Jets are 0-2-1 in the second game. It was a tight checking affair in Columbus, with not a lot of scoring chances in the first. Neither Jets goaltender Al Montoya nor Blue Jackets goaltender Mike McKenna was busy with the shots and after one the totals were 7-5 in favour of the Jets. Jacob Trouba was involved in his first NHL fight as he very much held his own against Matt Calvert. Adam Pardy and Nick Foligno also picked up fighting majors in the opening period. The games opening goal came at 13:59 of the second, with Mark Scheifele putting an Evander Kane pass into the top part of the net for his fourth of the year. Kane was back after missing the last six games due to injury. Its the second straight road trip where Scheifele scored the first goal, although this is a two game trip, vs the last trip which was a six game trip that started in New Jersey. Scheifele now has eight points in his last 11 games. Michael Frolik also drew an assist, giving him nine points in these last 12 games. Jets outshot the Blue Jackets 16-11 in the second. The third period was an offensive explosion as the two teams combined for four goals, three in a span of under three minutes. Bryan Little with his 14th goal of the season gave the Jets a 2-0 lead. The goal came on a power play, giving the Jets five power play goals in the last four games. Dustin Byfuglien drew an assist giving him points on 12 of the Jets 16 power play goals. It stayed that way until RJ Umberger got the Blue Jackets on the board with his eighth of year. One minute and 47 seconds later it was back to aa two-goal game as Kane notched his eight of the season, a great shot on an odd man rush.dddddddddddd. Just one minute and four seconds after that, it was back to a one-goal game with Fedor Tyutin notching his fourth. The Jets did not give up many more chances as they went on for the 3-2 win, outshooting Columbus 32-24. It was the Jets 21st one-goal game of the year. Kane and Byfuglien each had six shots on goal, with Byfuglien leading the way in ice time at 27:31. Scheifele played 20:39, his second highest ice time of the season. He was a plus two and is now even on the season, and extended his point streak to three. Frolik also extended his point streak to three, while Little is now at four (2-2-4). Little also has 23 points in his last 23 games. Coach Claude Noel, who spent three seasons as a member of the Blue Jackets coaching staff, felt his team played a pretty good game. "The game opened up in the third more than we would have liked but we managed late in the third period pretty well. The power play goal was big." On the return of Kane, Noel said. "He looked good. The goal was good and he made a good play on the Scheifele goal. He got banged up a bit but hell be fine." As for this being a response game. "A response game, no, but the misery we felt during the home stand, this game was important." Wanting more balance on the back end, Coach Noel juggled his pairings, with Byfuglien paired with Grant Clitsome (his first game back in Columbus after being picked up on waivers by the Jets), Trouba with Toby Enstrom and Mark Stuart with Pardy. Jets were minus Anthony Peluso, serving game one of a three game suspension, and Matt Halischuk, out with a broken forearm. Jim Slater and Paul Postma are still long term, while Zach Bogosian is on the trip and skating with the team. No firm date for his return although if this week goes well, home Friday vs. Florida might be a go. ' ' '