Olmo helps Barcelona grind out win at Las Palmas and keep La Liga league

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Dani Olmo scored after coming off the bench to help Barcelona win 2-0 at Las Palmas on Saturday and stay top of the Spanish league.

Lamine Yamal linked up with Olmo to find a seam in the hosts’ defense in the 62nd minute. Olmo took Yamal’s threaded pass, shifted the ball to his left foot to open an angle around a defender, and fired the ball in off the underside of the bar.

While Olmo went on at halftime, Ferran Torres only played the final minutes and drilled in a second goal from angle in stoppage time.

“Las Palmas is a team that defends well and closes down the interior passing lanes so we had to remain patient,” Olmo said. “In the second half the spaces opened up and we were able to score and take the three points.”

Barcelona avenged a shock home loss to the Canary Islands club in November as it ensured it will spend another week atop the standings.

The team coached by Hansi Flick is one point ahead of Atletico Madrid, which won 3-0 at Valencia earlier on Saturday. Real Madrid is three points back before facing Girona on Sunday without the suspended Jude Bellingham.

Barcelona plays the first leg of its Copa del Rey semifinal against Atletico on Tuesday.

Julián Álvarez scored twice to lead Atletico to a comfortable win at Mestalla Stadium.

Antoine Griezmann played a part in both of Álvarez’s first-half goals with a pair of finely placed lobs inside Valencia’s box.

Álvarez finished off a move in the 12th inside Valencia’s area that started with a lifted pass from Griezmann that Samuel Lino volleyed off the bar. Guiliano Simeone was first to the rebound and tapped it to Álvarez to ram into the net.

Griezmann was again left with space and time to think inside the area before he landed a perfectly placed pass between Valencia’s center backs for Álvarez to gently nod off the turf and inside the post on the half-hour mark.

Ángel Correa completed the scoring with four minutes remaining.

“We are still in the fight,” Álvarez said.

Valencia remained in the relegation zone.

Villarreal striker Ayoze Pérez netted his 11th league goal of the campaign in a 1-0 victory at 10-man Rayo Vallecano.

The result kept Villarreal in fifth place and challenging for a Champions League berth that go to the top four finishers. Athletic Bilbao is fourth and just one point ahead.

Rayo played with 10 men after Jorge de Frutos saw a red card for a studs-first foul just before halftime. The Madrid-based club also lost top midfielder Isi Palazón early in the game to an apparent leg injury. Pérez scored in the 66th.

Espanyol won its first away game of the season thanks to a header by Fernando Calero and the goalkeeping of Joan García to beat Alaves 1-0 on the road.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Barcelona's Pedri reacts during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

Barcelona's Pedri, left, duels for the ball with Las Palmas' Oli McBurie during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, second left, duels for the ball with Las Palmas' Stefan Bajcetic, left, during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

Barcelona's head coach Hansi Flick looks out prior the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, right, duels for the ball with Las Palmas' Alex Suarez during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

Barcelona's Alejandro Balde, right, duels for the ball with Las Palmas' Viti Rozada during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, right, and Barcelona's Raphinha prepare for a free kick during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski smiles during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, left, duels for the ball with Las Palmas' Stefan Bajcetic during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Las Palmas and Barcelona at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas, Spain's Canary Islands, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriel Jimenez)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)