Source: Eurosport
Barca and Real claim narrow wins
Barcelona and Real Madrid continued their battle at the top of La Liga as both sides recorded 1-0 wins over Valladolid and Malaga respectively.Pep Guardiola's Barcelona won 1-0 at Valladolid to maintain their dreams of wrestling the title away from Real.Samuel Eto'o scored the only goal of the game after lobbing on-rushing Valladolid goalkeeper Andres Asenjo in the 40th minute.Defending champions Real, who sit six points behind their fierce rivals, also won 1-0 as they defeated Malaga at La Rosaleda.Gonzalo Higuain struck his 18th goal of the season to earn the points as he finished in style following a strong run in the 49th minute.Fourth-placed Villarreal were stunned 3-0 at Almeria as Robert Pries was sent of for the visitors.Almeria did the damage in a stunning first half as Alvaro Negredo opened the scoring in the seventh minute before Pablo Piatti (20) and Jose Mane (35) added to the scoreline.Things were to get worse for Champions League hopefuls Villarreal as former Arsenal star Pires was handed his marching orders on the hour-mark for a second booking.Sevilla continue to chase Barca and Real as they downed Recreativo Huelva 1-0 at El Nuevo Colombino.Ex-Tottenham striker Frederic Kanoute scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot on 32 minutes after Dirnei Renato was fouled inside the 18-yard area.Fellow strugglers Real Betis and Numancia drew 3-3 in a thrilling match which saw three players sent off.Home side Betis took the lead after 10 minutes courtesy of Sergio Garcia, but Numancia were back on level terms five minutes before half-time thanks to Carlos Aranda.Jose Barkero then gave the visitors the lead with a 77th minute penalty after Marcos Nelson was red carded for a deliberate handball, but Betis were level in the 85th minute as substitute Jesus Capi scored.The drama then reached fever pitch as Numancia had Manuel Castro sent off for a second booking with two minutes remaining, and Beits capitalised as star player Ricardo Oliveira struck from the spot in the 90th minute.Numancia, though, hit back as, after Betis goalkeeper Alexandre Ricardo was dismissed, Aransa converted from the spot in the fifth minute of stoppage time.Athletic Bilbao climbed to 10th place following a 2-1 home win over Mallorca.Bilbao took the lead in the fifth minute as Francisco Yeste scored from the penalty spot.Mallorca hit back on 72 minutes through Jose Jurado, but Bilbao pinched the points as Javi Martinez scored with six minutes left to play.[LNB]
