La Liga Weekend Round-up

With Real Madrid's poor form and Barca losing points Villareal is sniffing close behind the league leaders. Betis fans show disorder again and the match against Bilbao was abandoned

The weekend started with an upset at the Riazor, Deportivo de la Coruna beated Real Madrid for a goal to nil. It was a bitter blow to the league leaders who wanted to extend the gap over Barca. It was an own goal by Pepe in the 57th minute which sealed the match.

The Mestalla played host to Sevilla and the match ended with a 1-2 victory for the visitors. The match saw two goals from the in form Luis Fabiano who now takes his goal scoring tally to 22.Raul Albiol hit back a consolation goal for Valencia in the 90th minute. Ronald Koeman's men are still in the tenth position in the league.

The match between Athletic Bilbao and Real Betis was abandoned after Bilbao goal keeper Armando Ribeiro was hit on the face by a bottle thrown by a Betis fan. He was taken off on a stretcher as he sustained a cut below his right eye and was bleeding. Play was stopped after the incident and the match was abandoned. It is not the first time that Betis had trouble with disorderly fans. Former Sevilla coach Juande Ramos was struck by a bottle from the stands and was knocked unconscious last season.

Yeste had scored in the eighth minute for Bilbao and Mark Gonzalez equalised for Betis in the 35th minute. The match was banned after the incident in the 65th minute.

Sinama-Pongolle was in great form when he struck two times against Murcia in the 19th and 70th minutes of the game. But it was De Lucas of Murcia who scored the first goal in the 16th minute. The match ended with a 4-2 win for the home side, with Ruben and Marquitos scoring in the 59th and 85th minute respectively. Ivan Alonso scored off a penalty in the 74th minute for Murcia.

The match on sunday saw Barcelona -minus the injured Messi - take on Almeria away from home and could only manage to get a draw. The newly promoted team proved that they were no push overs when Uche headed in the late equaliser in the 86th minute. The Catalans were the first to score in the 17th minute when Iniesta powered a shot which the Almeria keeper could only parry and the young Bojan Krkic tapped the ball into goal. Pulido equalised it with a powerful header into Valdes' goal in the 33rd minute. Gabi Millito, the Argentine center-back was cautioned a second time and was given the marching orders. The ten-men Barcelona played more attacking football and Samuel Eto'o scored in the 57th minute to put the visitos ahead.

Diego Forlan had the final say in the match against Levante which the Madrid side won 3-0. Simao Sabrosa, the Portugese attacking winger scored the first goal in the 24th minute. Forlan struck in the 39th and 52nd minute of the game. Atletico Madrid are now fourth in the league, two points clear of Sevilla.

Racing Santander suffered a defeat when they played Getafe away from home though they took the lead in the 54th minute. It was Gavilan, the fans man of the match who stood out for Getafe scoring 2 goals in the 67th and 77th minute.

The game between Valladolid and Osasuna ended in a draw with no goals.

Though the Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona did not manage to win this weekend, Villareal secured a good win against Real Zaragoza and find themselves just 2 points behind Barcelona. The Turkish international striker Nihat scored early in the match (11') by a fierce strike into the bottom right corner of the net. They enjoyed more possession and outplayed Zaragoza who find themselves in the 16th position after the defeat. Guiseppe Rossi, the young Italian striker, scored from the spot in the 66th minute to make the scoreline 2-0 in the Estadio El Madrigal.

Espanyol beat Mallorca with 2 goals to 1 in which Luis Garcia scored twice in penalties (58', 88'). Mallorca failed to take advantage of the early goal they had when Guiza scored in the 11'.

It was a good weekend in Spain with 25 goals in 9 matches. The teams that stood out with their performance are Atletico Madrid, Villareal and Recreativo Heulva. The match between Betis and Bilbao is an incident to forget and shameful for the football enthusiasts. The top two teams did not manage to win and it means that Villareal is the team which made most of the weekend.