Barcelona moved clear at the top of the table courtesy of a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona moved two points clear at the top of the table courtesy of a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.
Frank Rijkaard's team capitalised on Sevilla's two dropped points at Getafe earlier on Sunday to claim outright leadership of La Liga.
All the damage for Barca was done in the first half - Bilbao's Fernando Amorebieta turned Ludovic Giuly's cross into his own net 24 minutes in.
Six minutes later Ronaldinho and the fit-again Samuel Eto'o combined to set up Xavi for a volley and Eto'o himself slotted home four minutes before half-time to complete the win.
Sevilla claimed leadership of the league, albeit for only a few hours, and will now be ruing dropped points after a goalless draw at Getafe.
Valencia also lost ground on the leaders - Castro Ruben's injury-time goal gave Gimnastic a 1-1 draw after Joaquin had given Valencia the lead midway through the second half.
Fabricio Fuentes's injury-time goal saw Villarreal climb clear of relegation trouble courtesy of a 2-1 win over Real Mallorca.
Guillermo Pereyra gave Mallorca the lead on 27 minutes but Jon Dahl Tomasson equalised 12 minutes later.
Celta Vigo let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to Racing Santander.
Fernando Baiano's 26th minute penalty and Habib Bamogo (34) saw Celta in charge, but a second half collapse from the home team saw Racing level through Pedro Munitis (55) and Cristian Alvarez's penalty (79).
Espanyol won 2-0 at Osasuna through goals from Ferran Corominas (13) and Raul Tamudo (65), despite the sending off of Daniel Jarque a quarter of an hour from time.
Real Betis played out a goalless draw at home to Recreativo de Huelva, while Real Zaragoza claimed a point from a goalless encounter at Levante for whom Inaki Nescarga was dismissed on the stroke of full-time.
Click below for an individual match summary:
Celta Vigo 2-2 Racing Santander
Getafe 0-0 Sevilla
Levante 0-0 Real Zaragoza
Osasuna 0-2 Espanyol
Real Betis 0-0 Recreativo Huelva
Villarreal 2-1 Mallorca
Gimnastic 1-1 Valencia
Barcelona 3-0 Athletic Bilbao
