Real Madrid were the only team in the top seven to win this weekend, as Atletico, who lost the chance to close the gap on Barça, Valencia, Malaga, Real Sociedad and Betis all drew
At the bottom, Mallorca got a last gasp win at Granada and Deportivo managed a point at Riazor, but Celta and Zaragoza both lost whilst Osasuna were beaten by Bilbao
Atlético held at Málaga
Real Madrid closed the gap between themselves and second place Atlético to just two points, as Simeone’s team played out a goalless draw at Málaga, who stay fourth, a distant 12 points behind Real. The draw means that Atlético are still 11 points off Barça, with 12 games to play, although their boss insisted: “I’m very happy with how we played, particularly so soon after the important game we played midweek”. Málaga’s point keeps them in fourth, with Valencia held 2-2 at home by Levante – with an 88th minute equaliser from Barkero denying Valencia the win and keeping Valverde’s side a point behind Malaga on 42.
Six goal thriller at Anoeta
Real Sociead(41) and Betis(40) played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Anoeta. Betis went two up before the hour mark through Jorge Molina and Pabon before Carlos Vela, Martinez and Xabi Prieto led a great fight back for the hosts, only for Pabon to get his second for Betis late on to equalise and claim his third goal since joining Betis on loan from Parma at the end of January. The visitors’ coach Pepe Mel summed up the game, claiming: “a fair result would have been if we had both won”.
Mallorca claim last gasp win
Mallorca were looking at another week without a win as their game against Granada went into the last minutes of injury time with the scores at 1-1. Nolito had put the hosts ahead on 8 minutes, before Alfaro got the equaliser soon after and it looked as if that would be how the game would finish until in the last action of the game, Hemed got his head onto a wonderful Dos Santos cross to give Mallorca only their second win in 21 games and although they are still second from bottom, they are now just two points behind Celta and four off Zaragoza and safety.
Deportivo held by Rayo
Deportivo failed to score at the Riazor for the fifth time this season as they were held to a goalless draw by Rayo on Saturday and are now eight points behind Zaragoza, who themselves went down to their sixth defeat of 2013 at Getafe on Friday night. Granada are just a point ahead of Zaragoza, two behind Osasuna, who lost 0-1 to Atletico Bilbao in the Basque derby in Pamplona on Saturday, with Susaeta scoring for the visitors and their keeper Iraizoz keeping out everything the hosts could throw at them.
Espanyol’s winning run halted
In the weekend’s other game, Espanyol’s five game winning run at El Prat was halted when Valladolid held them to a goalless draw, which leaves Aguiire’s team on 32 points – two behind Valladolid.