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| Real madrid-Barcelona |
MADRID — Real Madrid kept up the pressure on Barcelona at the top of La Liga on Sunday with a 3-1 victory over bottom side Real Zaragoza.
The win put Real into pole position although Barcelona, who welcome Real Sociedad at home later Sunday, will reclaim top spot as well as their two-point lead with victory.
Zaragoza should have gone ahead in the opening minutes but Angel Lafita fluffed a shot in front of goal.
Real, with several players missing through injury and suspension, took the lead not long later with Mesut Ozil cutting in from the right and beating the keeper.
Either side of the break Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria scored to give Real a commanding advantage but Zaragoza never gave in.
Gabi Fernandez pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after Nicolas Bertolo had been felled by Ricardo Carvalho.
Although in-form Barcelona have scored 14 goals in their last three games, coach Pep Guardiola realises they cannot relax against Real Sociedad.
"We are on a good run but we have been scoring a lot of goals for the last two or three years as well as conceding few," he said.
"We have to be prepared as we could find ourselves in a difficult situation very quickly. We have to be careful against Real Sociedad because they have been a big surprise this season and are capable of producing a shock."
Espanyol were unable to capitalise on third-place Villarreal's 1-0 defeat by Getafe as a spectacular free-kick from substitute David Lopez gave Athletic Bilbao a 2-1 victory.
Athletic have only lost twice at home this season - to Barcelona and Atletico Madrid - but were in trouble after Pablo Osvaldo gave high-flying Espanyol a deserved lead.
In the second half Espanyol defended deeply, looking to hold on to their advantage and they paid the price with first Fernando Llorente heading home and then substitute Lopez firing an excellent 30-yard free-kick which nestled in the top corner.
"It seems incredible that we have left without the three points. In the first half we were a lot better playing good football and making Athletic run around," said Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino.
"We could have gone in 3-0 at half time but after the break Athletic gambled more and perhaps we were tired from our efforts in the first half."
Mallorca were hoping to bounce back after a disappointing 3-0 defeat by Getafe last week but they were beaten 1-0 by Racing Santander with Oscar Serrano scoring in the final minute.
Hercules took Malaga apart in the second half to win 4-1 after conceding an early goal from Sebas Fernandez.
David Trezeguet started the comeback before further goals from Royston Drenthe, Abraham Paz and Kiko Femenia.
Sporting Gijon and Levante came out with honours even in their relegation battle which ended 1-1 with Felipe Caicedo's opener for Levante cancelled out by an Sebastian Eguren goal.
On Saturday, a brace by Sergio Aguero led Atletico Madrid to a 2-0 victory over Deportivo La Coruna.
It was Aguero's night as he first won a penalty after being upended by keeper Daniel Aranzubia but Diego Forlan missed the follow-up spot-kick.
Not long later Aguero did find the back of the net with a jinking run and shot, and then added to it ten minutes before half time.
Lowly Almeria produced an inspired performance to beat Sevilla 3-1 and pile the pressure on the troubled Andalusian side.
