BARCELONA: Atletico Madrid stumbled in its pursuit of Barcelona for the Spanish league title after conceding two late goals to lose at relegation-threatened Sporting Gijon 2-1 on Saturday.

Atletico looked set to maintain its title challenge after Antoine Griezmann scored from a free kick in the first half.

The visitors' defense resisted Sporting's attack until a late push produced a free kick that Antonio Sanabria blasted in with 11 minutes to play.

Sporting's Carlos Castro completed the turnaround with a goal in the 89th with Atletico playing with 10 men after defender Jose Gimenez went down injured after coach Diego Simeone made all three substitutions.

Barcelona leads second-place Atletico by eight points before visiting fourth-place Villarreal on Sunday.

"We have lost three very important points for the league," Atletico midfielder Jorge "Koke" Resurreccion said. "We know they face Villarreal, but there is now one game less to go."

Barring an unlikely late-season collapse by Barcelona, Atletico's best chance for silverware this season is now the Champions League, where Friday's draw pitted it against the Catalan club in the quarterfinals.

The fightback by Sporting was quite a feat for the modest team that was promoted this season and entered the round in the relegation zone.

Atletico conceded a league-low 12 goals in the previous 29 rounds this season, and only one of those in the last six matches.

The match at El Molinon Stadium was following that exact script until Sporting mustered its rally.

After Griezmann curled his free kick over the barrier and just inside the post, the 2014 champions were content to cede Sporting the ball and lock down their defense.

And the strategy that coach Diego Simeone has perfected was working just fine until the last 12 minutes.

Sanabria hit the post, and moments later the striker finally beat goalkeeper Jan Oblak with a powerful free kick that Atletico midfielder Matias Kranevitter deflected, leaving Oblak out of position to stop.

Shortly after, Gimenez pulled up clutching his leg during a sprint to keep up with Sanabria on a counterattack, leaving the latter clear to draw Oblak off his line and pass to Castro with the net open.

Castro struck the ball off the bar to the disbelief of the home fans but his redemption came on another attack down the left flank that left him needing only to tap home a pass from Jony Rodriguez.

"We had control of the game until we were down a man when Gimenez got hurt," Koke said. "We knew that Sporting was playing for a lot, but it just wasn't to be."