Barcelona opened up a six-point gap at the Primera Division summit
this evening with another impressive victory - 3-0 over Deportivo
La Coruna at the Nou Camp.
Bojan Krkic opened the scoring after 16 minutes and Pedro
Rodriguez doubled their advantage with a stunning curling effort
from 45 yards midway through the second period with Depor
goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia out of position.
Yaya Toure sealed the rout with a third goal 18 minutes from
time to stretch Barca's advantage over nearest challengers Real
Madrid, who can narrow the gap back to three points by winning at
Almeria tomorrow night.
Real Mallorca climbed back up to fourth spot despite failing
yet again to pick up a three-point haul on their travels, playing
out a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Real Zaragoza.
With Sevilla surprisingly losing at lowly Real Valladolid
last night, Mallorca had the chance to take a big stride forward in
the race for the final Champions League spot.
Ruben Gonzalez headed them in front after 12 minutes, but
that advantage lasted just 10 minutes before in-form striker
Humberto Suazo drew Zaragoza level.
Xerez moved another step closer to what would be a miraculous
escape from the drop after stunning Atletico Madrid 2-1 at the
Vicente Calderon tonight.
The visitors took the lead early on through Mario Bermejo
and, although Atletico levelled almost immediately thanks to Diego
Forlan's piledriver, Xerez claimed the spoils when Emiliano
Armenteros netted 18 minutes from time.
The victory did not lift Xerez off the foot of the table -
the position they have occupied since November - but they are now
just six points behind 17th-placed Malaga.
Malaga also boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop with a
spirited performance which saw them twice come from behind to draw
2-2 at Osasuna.
A brace from Walter Pandiani, either side of Felipe Caicedo's
goal for Malaga had seemingly given Osasuna a deserved victory.
But Nabil Baha levelled in the 76th minute to snatch a share
of the spoils for the visitors, who are now three points above the
drop zone.
Espanyol's miserable away record continued as the
Barcelona-based side went down 3-1 at struggling Racing Santander.
Things looked good for the Catalans as they took the lead
after 32 minutes through Ivan Alonso, but Racing hit back virtually
straight away as Mohamed Tchite levelled from the spot.
Racing won another penalty shortly into the second half and
Espanyol keeper Carlos Kameni was sent off for bringing down Pedro
Munitis.
Tchite scored again and Manuel Arana wrapped up a deserved
victory in the last minute to boost Racing's survival hopes.
