Barcelona held by rock bottom Numancia
Little Numancia, firmly rooted to the foot of the Spanish first division, stunned mighty Barcelona by holding the leaders and Champions League contenders to a 1-1 draw.
Little Numancia, firmly rooted to the foot of the Spanish first division, stunned mighty Barcelona by holding the leaders and Champions League contenders to a 1-1 draw.
The result meant that Barcelona were able to increase their lead over bitter rivals Real Madrid to eight points but Real can cut the deficit when they travel to Deportivo La Coruna later Saturday.
On an icy pitch, which had been cleared of 80 lorry loads of snow in the run-up to the match, Barca struggled to impose their slinky passing game and were behind just before half-time.
Juanlu scored with an acrobatic effort past goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
However, Barca were back on level terms just after the restart when Xavi's corner was met by Mexican defender Rafael Marquez who got ahead of two defenders to score.
Barcelona-based Espanyol continued to press their claims to compete in Europe next season when they beat struggling Albacete 2-1.
Espanyol coach Miguel Angel Lotina was confident enough of beating their visitors to the Montjuic Olympic stadium that he employed three men up front from the outset.
His decision was justified after just four minutes when Maxi Rodriguez opened the scoring by hammering home a Dani Garcia cross for his 10th goal of the season.
Raul Tamudo put Espanyol further ahead after 22 minutes, finding the net after Albacete keeper Raul Valbuena could only push away a Daniel Jarque header.
Espanyol nearly went three up when their Brazilian Fredson hit the post just before half time.
Albacete got one back after 54 minutes when Antonio Pacheco waltzed past the Espanyol defenders before scoring but the goal served to shake Espanyol out of their post-break complacency and they shut up shop for the rest of the game.
Espanyol move up to fourth ahead of Sunday's games.
Levante came from behind to halt their recent slide and get a useful 2-1 away win at Real Mallorca.
After a torrid first half, both sides stepped up a gear after the break.
Mallorca drew first blood when Luis Garcia drilled the ball past Levante goalkeeper Juan Luis Mora from right on the penalty spot
Former Barcelona striker Sergio Garcia then equalised for Levante 13 minutes later, after some good work down the right wing by the ever-dangerous Ivorian winger Felix Ettien.
Ettien was again the service provider for Jofre Gonzalez, another Barca old boy, to head home Levante's winner ten minutes from time.
Mark Iuliano nearly equalised for Mallorca on the whistle but Mora just managed to turn away the rasping shot for a corner.
The loss leaves Mallorca deep in relegation trouble, second from bottom.