Barcelona 3-1 Sporting Gijon
Getafe 1-1 Espanyol
Malaga 3-2 Almeria
Mallorca 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna
Osasuna 1-0 Valencia
Real Betis 2-1 Sevilla
Real Madrid 1-0 Racing
Recreativo 0-3 Atletico Madrid
Valladolid 2-1 Athletic
Villarreal 2-1 Numancia
On Saturday, Real Madrid squeezed past an obdurate Racing side in a win that keeps them rooted in second but does little to dispel the doubters in the media who have quickly labelled Juande Ramos's team boring. Raul missed the chance to break Alfredo Di Stefano's goal record in front of his home fans, instead it was his Argentine strike partner Gonzalo Higuain who did the honours 4 minutes after half time.
Barcelona closed the gap back to 12 points on Sunday evening with a serene win over Sporting Gijon at the Camp Nou. Samuel Eto'o's embarrasment of riches for service - Thierry Henry on the left, Lionel Messi on the right - set up both of his goals in the first half before Dani Alves smashed home from an acute angle to put the result beyond doubt. A smart finish from Gijon midfielder Kike Mateo meant little and Sporting drop to 12th - only Numancia have suffered more defeats which must surely be a concern to Manolo Preciado. His team have, incredibly, yet to draw a league match this season.
Elsewhere, on Saturday Real Betis heaped further pressure on the beleagured Manolo Jiminez with a pulsating derby win away at Sevilla. Ricardo Oliveira, back for his second spell at the club, scored the decisive second goal after Sergio Garcia had headed Betis in front 20 minutes earlier. Fredi Kanoute scored a consolation goal but it could do nothing to stop a first win in the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan for Betis in 13 years, and almost certainly grants a stay of execution for their under-pressure coach Paco Chaparro. Thats 3 straight defeats for Sevilla - will Jose Maria Del Nido, one of the more patient chairman in La Liga, feel compelled to act?
Valencia missed out on the chance to overtake Sevilla in the table as they went down to a 1-0 defeat to Osasuna, a solitary Miguel Flano goal enough to derail Los Che's weekend. Valencia had their chances but paid a hefty price for their profligacy. Villarreal beat Numancia 2-1 to give themselves a fighting chance of top four status, thanks to a welcome double from Giuseppe Rossi - one of the few highlights of an otherwise disjointed season.
It was a case of the new manager having a big impact for Atletico Madrid, as Abel Resino celebrated his first game in charge with a comfortable 3-0 win at Recreativo Huelva. Sergio Aguero certainly looked happier, scoring one and creating two for strike partner Diego Forlan to propel Atletico back into the European spots. Malaga sit in 7th after a thrilling 3-2 win over Almeria. Salva Ballesta scored 2 second half goals to cap a memorable second half comeback from Antonio Tapia's men. Almeria had led 2-0 through first half goals from Uche and Negredo (his 11th of a very productive season) but Malaga fought back. Elsewhere Valladolid ended Athletic Bilbao's recent good run, Getafe and Espanyol played out a 1-1 draw and there was a similar result in the Mallorca-Deportivo match.
That means Mallorca are the new bottom team in La Liga, with Espanyol second and Numancia third bottom. Osasuna sit 17th, with Almeria and Recreativo four points further up with 24. I predict it to get tighter as the season progresses.
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