La Liga Round 27: Huntelaar helps himself

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

Barcelona remain top by six points following a 2-0 win at Almeria. The Andalucian club were not the first and won’t be the last to milk an encounter with the Catalans – reports say seats were being sold for as much as £270, which is quite simply criminal behaviour – and as a result only 9,000 turned up. Guardiola’s men dominated the game but only found their way to goal late on, Bojan Krkic scoring a quick-fire double to secure the blaugrauna 3 points and silence some of his own doubters. The talented youngster has endured a tough season but this match has hopefully given him some confidence.

Real Madrid remain in second after a controversial encounter at the San Mames which saw them finish 5-2 winners. They exorcised the week’s horror show at Anfield with a dominant display, Huntelaar (2), Robben, Heinze and Higuain all getting on the scoresheet. Heinze had earlier put through his own net and Llorente had drawn Athletic level only for the home side to implode after Fran Yeste was sent off. 13 cards were shown in all in the match.

Sevilla remain in third, but have now dropped off to 9 points behind Real following a draw at Malaga. Tapia’s men raced into a 2-goal lead through the veteran former Pichichi winner Salva Ballesta, only for Sevilla to storm back second half, first Kanoute converted Diego Perrotti’s through-ball then Luis Fabiano headed in Adriano’s cross. In between, Javier Calleja was sent off for the home side who are two points away from the Champions League spots.

Atletico Madrid bounced back from their midweek knock-out by beating Villarreal in an entertaining match at the Calderon. Mati Fernandez gave the visitors the lead against the run of play, before Cani doubled their lead just after half time. Diego Lopez had been in inspired form for the Yellow Submarine but he could do nothing to stop Kun Aguero cutting the arrears, or Forlan’s equalizer after Javi Venta had received his marching orders. Antonio Lopez headed in the winner with 7 minutes to go to send Atletico 5th on goal difference.

Elsewhere, Valencia were once again lacklustre as they were held at home by Recreativo, further increasing Unai Emery’s woes; Valladolid are now just a point behind Los Che as they condemned Getafe to their third straight defeat. Racing hit 5 past a woeful Numancia, with Oscar Serrano and Nikola Zigic helping themselves to braces; Mallorca played out their second 3-3 draw in a week, this time away at Espanyol, a result which means Manzano’s men are three points above the drop; Sporting Gijon turned over Deportivo in Asturias to jump 7 points clear of relegation.