Barcelona plough on

Barcelona 4-1 Numancia
Villarreal 1-1 Osasuna
Almeria 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Getafe 5-1 Sporting Gijon
Malaga 1-1 Atletico Madrid
Mallorca 3-1 Valencia
Real Madrid 1-0 Deportivo
Recreativo 1-0 Real Betis
Sevilla 0-2 Racing Santander
Valladolid 1-1 Espanyol

On Saturday, Barcelona eventually overpowered plucky Numancia after the visitors kept them out for the best part of 50 minutes. Inevitably Messi was the gamebreaker, scoring twice as well as Eto’o and Henry. Barkero provided the consolation for the team from Soria. Down the coast in Castellon, Villarreal continue to stutter as they are the lastest side to be tripped up by Osasuna, who are picking up the odd point that means they still have a chance of beating the drop. Giuseppe Rossi gave the hosts a first half lead but a second half strike from Cape Verdean striker Dady levelled matters.

Real Madrid closed the gap back to 12 points at the top thanks to Raul’s 34th minute ear-touch to Lassana Diarra’s cross. It was the skipper’s 213th league goal for Los Merengues and means he is just 1 behind Alfredo Di Stefano’s all-time record, quite an achievement regardless of what you might think of the man. Juande Ramos’s side have conceded once in just five matches to belie the political wrangling and instability going on behind the scenes.

Sevilla missed out on a chance to shore up their top 4 position with a thoroughly lacklustre display at home to a disciplined Racing side who scored set-piece goals either side of half time through Cesar Navas and the magnificent Nikola Zigic. Only Sevilla and Barcelona have conceded fewer goals than the men from Cantabria and they now sit 9th within spitting distance of the European places. Mallorca pulled off the shock of the weekend with a thoroughly professional dismantling of Unai Emery’s Valencia. Midfielder Jurado scored twice in Mallorca’s first league win since late October. Atletico Madrid also missed out on a chance to gain ground by being held by Antonio Tapia’s resolute Malaga.

Getafe, for want of a better word, absolutely mullered Sporting Gijon on Sunday, with Roberto Soldado grabbing his first La Liga hat-trick in the process. Its a result that means Los Azulones leapfrog them and four others into 11th. Hugo Sanchez’s Almeria halted Athletic’s recent excellent run with a 2-1 victory, Javier Camunas carried Recreativo to a priceless win over hapless Real Betis and Mauricio Pochettino’s first league game in charge of Espanyol ended in a 1-1 draw at Valladolid – not a bad return under the circumstances but wins are the priority, and plenty of them given their situation.