| 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 |