La Liga Round-up : March 30th

Barca's poor away form continues as they lose to Betis and Villareal takes full advantag of it moving up to the second spot while league leaders Real Madrid enjoyed a great win against Sevilla.

Real Betis 3-2 Barcelona

Barcelona visited the Rui de Lepora stadium to take on Betis without the injured Messi and Ronaldinho.Although Barca does not have a good away record this season they managed to take an early two-goal lead. The Spanish wonderkid Bojan Krkic and Samuel Eto'o struck early in the first half to give the visitors a two goal cushion at the interval.

Betis hit back shortly after the half started through Edu and he then won a penalty. Victor Valdes saved Barca when he parried Edu's shot from the spot. Betis continued their attacked and Juanito volleyed in the equaliser.The Catalan club failed to clear their lines and Edu struck a wonderful goal atoning for his earlier miss.

Villareal 3-0 Atletico Madrid

Manuel Pellegrini took full advantage of Barca's lose as Villareal climb up the league table and take the second position.

Cazorla scored the first goal in the El Madrigal stadium in the 39th minute of the match. Kahveci struck two mintues before the half-time and Villareal looked comfortable with a two goal lead. Nihat netted another goal in the 66th minute and Atletico Madrid were sent packing.



Real Madrid 3-1 Sevilla

The Whites maintained their position in the league table with a well deserved victory over Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid got off to a flying start in the sixth minute, when Heinze headed in a Sneijder free-kick.

Sevilla equalised through Kanoute in the 37th minute, but Raul continued his best performance and regained Real Madrid's lead when he cleverly controlled a Sneijder cross on his knee and fired into the top left corner. Higuain made up for his earlier misses and finished a beautiful outside of the left foot pass from the man of the match - Guti.

Espanyol 0-3 Racing Santander

The club from Cantabria moved up to the fifth spot in the league tables with a stunning victory of Espanyol away from home. Oscar Serrano started the scoring and Munitis put them two goals ahead in the first half.

Espanyol tried to pull one back when Tamudo struck one in, but the goal was disallowed Moises hit the bar later in the second half, but it was Racing Santander who had the final say when Ivan Boldado scored the third in the stoppage time with a wonderful effort to get past Kameni.

Almeria 2-1 Levante

Unai Emery has taken his team to new levels and they are just three points below Sevilla and Espanyol in the eighth spot. Soriano and Felipe Melo scored for the home team in the first half. Levante pulled one back in the dying minutes through substitue Iborra, but it was too late to save them from relegation battle.

Valencia 0-3 Mallorca

Valencia did not look like the team which had won against Barcelona and Real Madrid and they failed to take the home advantage, a win would have helped them to be in the top half of the league table.

Guiza's brace helped Mallorca win the match comfortably in the Mestella with Ramis adding his name to the score-sheet with a well struck free-kick.

Getafe 0-2 Osasuna

Osasuna fought very well in the physical battle and manage to secure a win against the ten men Getafe. Puñal had a man-of-the-match performance with a goal from the penalty-spot and a free-kick that resulted in a Flaño header goal.

Cosmin Contra was sent off earlier in the first half when he fouled Monreal. Getafe's defeat will be a set-back to the club which is playing Bayern Munich in the UEFA cup tie next Thursday.

Deportivo La Coruña 3-1 Murcia

Murcia was a clear under-dog and Deportivo managed to put three goals in, thanks to a Xisco hat-trick.

Murcia took the lead in the first minute when De Lucas headed in a cross from Dani Aquino. Xisco scored the equaliser before the interval, and scored the other two early in the second half.

Recreativo Huelva 1-1 Athletic Bilbao

The relegation battling Heulva got lucky in the first-half and went one goal ahead, when Amorebieta headed in an own goal from a Martins cross.

Athletic Bilbao did not have a good day but Aduri saved a point near to the end of the game, lifting the ball over Sorrentino and heading the ball into the empty net.

Valladolid 2-1 Real Zaragoza

Although Zapater gave the visitors the lead in the dying minutes of first half, they were beaten by a spirited Valladolid. Victor equalised early in the second half scoring from the spot although it didn't look like a penalty. Llorente headed in the winner after some minutes, taking advantage of an early cross from Sesma. Zaragoza was unlucky when a late goal from Sergio Garcia was ruled out. Juanfran was sent off after picking up a second yellow-card

Both Zaragoza and Valladolid are struggling to save themselves from relegation, Zaragoza is 17th in the league table and the win will help Valladolid to move to 16th.