Wins for both Valencia and Villarreal yesterday leave Barcelona four points clear at the top of the table and consign the injury-stricken champions to fourth place after their derby defeat against Getafe on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Espanyol's home defeat against newly-promoted Sporting Gijón proved to be the last straw for coach Bartolomé 'Tintin' Márquez, who has since been sacked.

Santi Cazorla opened the scoring for Villarreal with a long-range 26th minute deflected strike and Recreativo found themselves two down at the interval after Ariel Ibazaga curled one in over the wall just before the break.

Colunga pulled one back from the penalty spot eight minutes before the final whistle, but it will have done little to console the fans who have yet to see their side win at home this season.

After back-to-back home defeats, Valencia threw away a 2-0 half-time lead against Real Betis, but, despite being reduced to ten men when Carlos Marchena was given his marching orders in the 64th minute for a foul on Sergio García, secured the win with a 73rd minute headed goal by Ruben Baraja that moves them back up above Real Madrid and into third place.

Diego Forlán created the first two goals for Simao and Aguero, then notched a second-half brace as Atletico Madrid came from behind to beat Racing Santander, who had taken an early lead with a dubious 7th minute penalty, but who then lost Cesar Navas fifteen minutes before the interval for a dangerous tackle on Paulo Assunçao.  

Sunday, 30th November
Recreativo Huelva 1-2 Villarreal
Valladolid 3-0 Mallorca
Almeria 0-1 Deportivo La Coruna
Malaga 4-2 Osasuna
Espanyol 0-1 Sporting Gijon
Atletico Madrid 4-1 Racing Santander
Valencia 3-2 Real Betis
Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Numancia

Saturday, 29th November
Getafe 3-1 Real Madrid
Sevilla 0-3 Barcelona

Liga standings, points after 13 games
1  Barcelona  32
2  Villarreal  28
3  Valencia  27
4  Real Madrid  26
5  Sevilla  24
6  Atletico Madrid  21
7  Deportivo La Coruna  21
8  Real Valladolid  19
9  Malaga  18
10 Sporting Gijon  18
11 Real Betis  17
12 Getafe  17
13 Racing Santander  15
14 Almeria  15
15 Real Mallorca  13
16 Athletic Bilbao  12
17 Espanyol  12
18 Numancia  11
19 Osasuna  8
20 Recreativo Huelva  7

Sunday, 7th December
Barcelona vs Valencia
Deportivo La Coruna vs Malaga
Mallorca vs Recreativo Huelva
Numancia vs Almeria
Osasuna vs Valladolid
Racing Santander vs Athletic Bilbao
Real Betis vs Espanyol
Real Madrid vs Sevilla
Sporting Gijon vs Atletico Madrid
Villarreal vs Getafe

Saturday round-up:

Barça open up six point gap as Real beaten

http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/15900/barca-open-up-six-point-gap-as-real-beaten