Barcelona substitute Xavi's winner against Osasuna moved Frank Rijkaard's side to within six points of Real Madrid.
Barca close gap, while Valencia end 10-game winless
Barcelona substitute Xavi came off the bench to score a later winner against Osasuna that moves Frank Rijkaard's side to within six points of Real Madrid.
Villarreal and Atletico Madrid both failed to make substantial ground on the top two after being held to draws, while Valencia picked up a morale boosting win at Real Valladolid.
Sevilla climb a place courtesy of a 2-1 win at Recreativo that saw both sides reduced to ten men, with Athletic Bilbao left to rue an away defeat to Real Zaragoza.
The Camp Nou faithful were made to wait until the 88th minute to see their
Barcelona side net a winner, when substitute Xavi's fine strike from the edge of the box broke
Osasuna's resolve.
Prior to Xavi's moment of inspiration a Barcelona side that started with Ronaldinho on the bench looked shy of ideas in the driving rain.
Villarreal had hoped to close the gap on Barcelona in second, but despite taking the lead against
Real Mallorca through Giuseppe Rossi's 28th minute penalty; they had to settle for a point when Angelos Basinas also struck from the spot little more than ten minutes later.
Atletico Madrid were disappointing in the capital as they played out another 1-1 stalemate, with Luis Garcia, in the 64th minute, the man to rescue the home side a point after
Real Murcia had taken the lead early in the second half through Jofre's penalty.
Levante remain firmly rooted to the foot of the table after the third 1-1 scoreline of the day, as they could not be separated from
Racing Santander.
Riga Mustapha got the home crowd off their feet in the 58th minute but they were made to sit back down again in the 76th, as Aldo Duscher's spot-kick restored parity for Racing.
Juan Manuel Mata and David Villa struck to end
Valencia's 10-game winless streak in the Spanish league as they beat
Real Valladolid.
Mata controlled Carlos Marchena's cross-field pass and sent a left-foot shot inside the near post in the 61st minute before Villa secured the win in the 72nd minute with his first goal since 11th November.
Real Zaragoza claimed a 1-0 win over
Athletic Bilbao thanks to Ricardo Oliveira's effort in the 28th minute, with the Basque club's woes exacerbated by Aitor Ocio's dismissal for two yellow cards.
Luis Fabiano showed his class in the 46th and 84th minutes to hand
Sevilla a 2-1 victory at
Recreativo, whose consolation goal arrived just before the final whistle through Roberto Beto.
Both sides ended the game with ten men, as Aquivaldo for Sevilla and Recreativo's Ersen Martin saw red.
In Sunday's late game
Espanyol were away day winners at
Getafe as Jonathan Soriano's 17th minute goal separated the two sides.
Individual match summaries:
