Villarreal beat Barca to leave Real eight clear

Villarreal beat Barcelona 2-1 at the Nou Camp to leave Real Madrid eight points clear at the top of the Primera Liga on Sunday.

Real came back to beat Espanyol 2-1 at the Bernabeu on Saturday but second-placed Barca failed to repeat the feat after going behind to a first-half penalty from Marcos Senna.

Xavi equalised in the second half but substitute Jon Dahl Tomasson crowned an impressive all-round display from Villarreal with a winner nine minutes from time.

“It’s still only March and competitions aren’t decided in March. We have to keep on fighting until all the games have been played,” Barca coach Frank Rijkaard said. Real have 62 points, Barca 54 and Villarreal, who completed a double over Barca in the league, move on to 50.

Earlier, Racing Santander beat 10-man Real Betis 3-0 at home to climb to fifth on 44 points, the same as fourth-placed Atletico Madrid who lost 2-1 away to Real Zaragoza on Saturday.

The King’s Cup semi-finalists made the most of the extra man when Betis had defender Melli sent off just after half time.

Argentines Aldo Duscher and Ezequiel Garay, and striker Mohamed Tchite wrapped up the win.

Sevilla recovered from their midweek Champions League exit to beat bottom club Levante 2-1 at the Sanchez Pizjuan to go sixth on 42.

They had to come from behind after Riga caught Andres Palop off his line from 35 metres, and struggled back to win through Mali midfielder Seydou Keita and Brazil striker Luis Fabiano, who took his tally for the season to 20.

Elsewhere, the worst defensive performance of the day came as Recreativo Huelva folded to a 7-1 defeat away to Real Mallorca.

Venezuela forward Juan Arango scored a hat-trick while Spain striker Daniel Guiza and midfielder Borja Valero each bagged a pair inside the game’s opening 50 minutes for the islanders’ biggest ever win in the top flight.

Barca swarmed round the Villarreal area at the Nou Camp but for all their possession they struggled to create clear cut chances, and were hit on a swift counter-attack in the 31st minute.

Santi Cazorla fed Guillermo Franco and as he tried to round Victor Valdes he was brought down for a penalty, which Spain midfielder Senna put away.

Barca missed the injured Lionel Messi and grew increasingly desperate until Andres Iniesta weaved his way to the line and pulled back for Xavi to level in the 67th.

As they pushed forward in search of a winner, Villarreal caught Barca out again and a slick passing move ended at the feet of Denmark striker Tomasson to score.

Ronaldinho blasted a freekick against the bar at the end, but was unable to prevent Rijkaard’s side slipping to a second consecutive league defeat.