Barcelona stretched their lead at the top of the Primera Liga while Luis Fabiano struck a hat-trick in a win for Sevilla.
Barca extend lead; Fabiano nets a hat-trick
Barcelona stretched their lead at the top of the Primera Liga while Luis Fabiano struck a hat-trick in a win for Sevilla.
Defending champions
Barcelona heaped pressure on chasers Real Madrid, who host Mallorca on Sunday, with a comfortable 3-0 win over
Racing Santander.
It took Barca just two minutes to open the scoring, as Pedro bundled in from close range before Lionel Messi scored from the spot.
Andres Iniesta added a third after the break as the hosts extended their lead to seven points over Madrid, having played a day in advance.
Sevilla, meanwhile, had Fabiano to thank as his hat-trick helped them to a 4-1 home win over struggling
Levante.
The Brazilian broke the deadlock on 28 minutes and scored again from the spot shortly before the break, with a Julien Escude strike sandwiched in between.
Xisco pulled one back for Levante after the break, but the three-goal cushion was restored as Fabiano completed his hat-trick on 68 minutes.
In the late kick-off,
Valencia played host to the game of the day but they required an injury-time winner from Aritz Aduriz to secure a 4-3 win over nine-man
Malaga.
Malaga took a deserved early lead through Salomon Rondon but, soon after, former Bayern Munich defender Martin Demichelis conceded a penalty and was dismissed for his troubles.
The 30-year-old had prevented a goalscoring opportunity and Juan Mata dispatched the spot-kick. Then, Rondon restored Malaga's lead with his second but was pegged back by a Roberto Soldado goal.
Ever Banega handed Valencia the lead for the first time in the match but, after Helder Rosaria saw red for Malaga, Julio Baptista remarkably evened things up once more.
Brave Malaga looked to have snatched a deserved point only for Aduriz to tap home late on to steal the points for third-placed Valencia.
