Atletico Madrid 1 - 1 Getafe C.F
Deportivo La Coruna 0 - 0 Osasuna
Espanyol 0 - 2 Sevilla
Sporting de Gijón 0 - 4 Real Madrid
Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Recreativo Huelva
Almeria 3 - 2 Valladolid
C.D Numancia 0 - 1 Mallorca
Racing Santander 1 - 1 Villarreal
Real Betis Balompié 2 - 2 Barcelona
Valencia 1 - 1 Málaga
Real Madrid breezed past Sporting Gijon to close the gap at the top to a mere 10 points (snigger) and Raul also scored twice to break Di Stefano's league record for Real Madrid, a great achievement for the number seven. Sporting were outclassed, offering little resistance as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar also recorded his first Merengues goal. Juande Ramos once again scored a clean sheet, his 8th consecutive performance as such, and his side did not seem affected at all by the absence of Arjen Robben. In his place stepped Marcelo, who looked far more comfortable in a more advanced position than he ever did at left-back earlier in the season.
The gap is closed because on Saturday Barcelona recorded something of a surprise draw at Betis. Paco Chaparro's men, buoyed by their derby victory last week, raced into a two goal lead through Melli and ex-Liverpool winger Mark Gonzalez. Samuel Eto'o scored twice, including from the spot, two level things up but it showed that Barcelona are not infallible, especially when Messi and Henry don't start. Both sides had chances to win but Ricardo was in excellent form between the sticks for Betis and a draw was the least they deserved.
Sevilla left it late to record an important win at Espanyol which alleviates some of the pressure on Manolo Jiminez. Los Rojiblancos had lost their previous three games including last week's painful derby defeat, but they were able to somewhat exorcise those demons here. They were helped by an Espanyol side whose profligacy seems to know no bounds. Luis Garcia, the striker who hasn't scored since October, was the main offender missing a hatful of chances to leave Mauricio Pochettino exasperated and still looking for his first win in charge at the fifth time of asking. Two goals in the last six minutes from Fredi Kanoute had an air of inevitability about them and Los Pericos are winless in 14 and as a result, finish the weekend bottom of the table, 3 points adrift.
Valencia and Malaga played out a draw, David Villa gave the home side the lead before Raul Albiol put through his own net to equalise. Villarreal and Racing also drew, Zigic gave the verdiblancos the lead only for Santi Cazorla to equalise just before half time. Atletico Madrid were foiled at home to Getafe, Diego Forlan had given Atletico the lead (his third in two) only for Albin to level with two minutes to go. Its a result that means Valencia and Villarreal are level on points in 4th and 5th, Atletico and Malaga two points behind and Sevilla on 41 points in 3rd.
I did say in my preview that Hugo Sanchez can't keep relying on Uche and Negredo to bail his side out but it seems he can after all, so I apologise for wasting your time. Valladolid raced into a two goal lead in Andalucia only for Crusat, Uche and, yes, Negredo to capture three points that means Almeria jump to 13th. To the surprise of absolutely no-one, Deportivo and Osasuna played out a dour 0-0 draw and Mallorca's win in Numancia takes them to third bottom level with Osasuna with Recreativo on 25.
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