Sevilla move up to third despite being held by Racing

Sevilla moved up to third spot in the Primera Liga on Sunday despite being held to a 2-2 draw at home to Racing Santander.

Strikers Julio Baptista and Dario Silva twice put the Andalucians ahead, but a determined Racing never gave up the chase and grabbed a deserved equaliser six minutes from time when Uruguayan forward Mario Regueiro headed in from a corner.

The draw left Sevilla with 42 points from 25 matches, one point ahead of city rivals Real Betis, who can overhaul them if they win Sunday's late match at Valencia.

Sevilla are eight points behind second-placed Real Madrid who slipped to their second defeat in a row when they lost 2-0 to a dominant Deportivo Coruna on Saturday.

Real's defeat allowed arch-rivals Barcelona to extend their lead at the top of the table to eight points despite the fact that they were held to a 1-1 draw by basement side Numancia in an almost unplayable pitch in Soria.

Villarreal missed their chance gain the edge in the race for the Champions League places when they lost 1-0 at Real Zaragoza as they slipped to only their second defeat in 12 games.

Sunday's match of the day, though, was at El Sadar where Malaga continued their impressive revival with a 6-1 crushing of nine-man Osasuna, who have now gone eight games without a win.

The outstanding Miguel Angel opened the flood gates with a well taken strike in the fourth minute and new signing Fernando Baiano scored his first goals for the club when he weighed in with a goal either side of halftime.