Barcelona retained control of La Liga as they joined Sevilla in winning on Sunday.
Barcelona retained control of La Liga as they followed Sevilla's lead in winning on Sunday night, whilst bottom club Gimnastic de Tarragona won in emphatic style to claim just their third victory of the season.With Real Madrid losing on Saturday, Sevilla took the chance to move into pole position with an impressive 4-2 victory at Levante.
Strikes from Fredi Kanoute (35), Alexander Kerzhakov (55) and an own goal from Damiano Tommasi (67) gave Juande Ramos' side a healthy three-goal lead.
Frederic Dehu (69) and Gustavo Reggi (74) made Sevilla sweat for just three minutes before Ligero Alejandro Alfaro wrapped up the win.
However, in a later kick-off Barcelona overtook their rivals once again with a 3-1 victory over Celta Vigo.
An eventful clash at Camp Nou saw Javier Saviola continue his recent run of good form with a superb header from Giovanni van Bronckhorst's cross on 34 minutes.
However Celta were handed the chance to draw level when Lopez Angel fell under contact from both van Bronckhorst and Oleguer in the box, and Nene dispatched the resulting penalty after 67 minutes.
Barca had their own spot-kick 11 minutes later but the award came in contentious circumstances as Celta were infuriated when referee Carlos Delgado Ferreira awarded a penalty despite van Bronckhorst being fouled just outside the box.
Ronaldinho dispatched emphatically from 12 yards, and Ludovic Giuly rounded off the scoring with four minutes to when he slipped his shot between the legs of Celta keeper Jose Pinto.
The visitors to Camp Nou also had Matias Lequi dismissed in the closing stages after two bookable offences.
At the other end of the table, Gimnastic moved into double figures for the season thanks to a resounding 4-0 home win over Espanyol.
Having won just once since the opening day of the season, morale had been low at the Liga strugglers, but Gimnastic answered their critics with a storming first half display.
Goals from Javier Portillo (9), Alejandro Campano (19, pen), Antonio Pinilla (26) and Cesar Navas (43) were enough to dispose of a shell-shocked Espanyol.
Gimnastic are now nine points from safety, and their hopes of avoiding the drop were given a minor boost by 19th-placed Real Sociedad's 2-0 home defeat to Athletic Bilbao.
A brace from Andoni Iraola (12, 69) was enough for Bilbao to triumph in the Basque derby and move three points away from the drop zone.
Real Mallorca are a further point ahead of Bilbao following a 2-1 win over Recreativo de Huelva.
The Islanders saw Sergio Ballesteros (39) and Jose Nunes (45) score before Juanma claimed a consolation (50), but Mallorca did lose Ballesteros in the last ten minutes due to two bookable offences.
Real Betis moved out of the relegation zone after securing a valuable 2-1 win over fourth-placed Valencia.
David Villa put the Che ahead after ten minutes with a great finish from inside the penalty box, but Robert rose to the occasion for Betis, scoring five minutes later and then dispatching a second half penalty.
Getafe moved into seventh position thanks to a brace from Daniel Guiza (28, 45) in a 2-0 win over Osasuna - who had Josetxo dismissed on 78 minutes.
Real Zaragoza moved to within four points of the top five following a 1-1 draw against Deportivo la Coruna at La Romareda.
Depor looked to be in control after Sebastian Taborda's goal on 21 minutes, but the hero quickly metamorphosed into villain when he was sent off for a professional foul, allowing Diego Milito to score from the penalty spot with 11 minutes to go.
Click below for match summaries:
Getafe 2-0 Osasuna
Gimnastic 4-0 Espanyol
Levante 2-4 Sevilla
Mallorca 2-1 Recreativo
Real Sociedad 0-2 Athletic Bilbao
Real Zaragoza 1-1 Deportivo
Barcelona 3-1 Celta Vigo
Real Betis 2-1 Valencia
