Sociedad stay in charge in Spain
Turkish international Nihat Kahveci scored the only goal of the game as Real Sociedad beat Villareal 1-0 on Sunday to maintain their three point lead at the top of the Spanish championship.
Turkish international Nihat Kahveci scored the only goal of the game as Real Sociedad beat Villareal 1-0 on Sunday to maintain their three point lead at the top of the Spanish championship.
Kahveci pounced in the 36th minute when he slotted home a cross from Aitor Rekarte to register his fifth league goal of the season and his team notched their sixth win in eight games.
Defending champions Valencia moved into sole position of second spot with a battling 1-0 away win at Espanyol.
Fabio Aurelio scored the only goal of the game at the Montjuic Stadium fifteen minutes from time from a free-kick.
However, the problems continue to pile up for European champions Real Madrid who could only draw 0-0 with Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday in a match where both sides' usual silky skills were negated by the torrential rain which left parts of the Riazor stadium resembling a quagmire.
Both sides were reduced to half-hearted long-range efforts, the best of which came from Real's Roberto Carlos whose powerful drive was saved by Juan Juanmi.
Despite the result, which came after a midweek defeat in the Champions league to AS Roma, Real skipper Fernando Hierro dismissed talk of a crisis at the club.
"Nobody doubts we are a great squad. Just a month ago, we were the dream team," said the veteran defender.
"We are the same team. Now it is time to prove our character and maturity. My experience tells me that the only way out of this situation is hard work."
"We are used to talk of crisis. But we are calm because we have proved that we can get out of this sort of situation on many occasions. There is no reason to panic," Hierro told the Real Madrid website.
Barcelona are still marooned in mid-table after needing a goal eight minutes from the end from Fernando Navarro to secure a 1-1 draw at promoted Racing Santander for whom Francisco Guerrero had scored in the opening minute of the match.
Meanwhile, a hat-trick by inspired Uruaguayan forward Walter Pandiani gave Real Mallorca a 3-1 win at Real Valladolid which gave them their fifth win in a row and third place overall.
It was the home side however who found the net first with midfielder Oscar Marcos taking advantage of a mistake by Mallorca's Argentine goalie Leo Franco to find the net on 25 minutes.
The opposition were however quick to respond with Pandiani profiting from a defensive error to put Mallorca on the board just a minute later.
Confusion reigned and seconds later Valladolid's David Aganzo missed a golden opportunity to go ahead again.
After the break Valladolid showed more energy than quality and squandered several more opportunities before Pandiani added two more allowing Mallorca to equal their club record with five consecutive wins after a terrible start of the season.