The hosts were forced to play most of the game with 10 men after full-back Miguel Torres was sent off for a badly-timed tackle from behind on Dani Aquino after 19 minutes.

But Bernd Schuster's side sealed an important victory thanks to Wesley Sneijder's 54th-minute strike to move nine points clear of second-placed Barcelona.

Barca could only draw 2-2 at lowly Recreativo Huelva on Saturday night as Lionel Messi made his long-awaited comeback from injury.

Samuel Eto'o gave the Catalans an early lead, but Marco Ruben equalised with a controversial strike shortly before half-time.

Eto'o then struck again just after the break, but Ruben also scored a second to rescue a point for the home side.

On Sunday, 10-man Villarreal missed the chance to move back up to second as Santiago Acasiete hit a late winner to boost Almeria's European hopes with a 1-0 win over the Yellow Submarine.

The visitors never recovered from having goalkeeper Diego Lopez sent off for bringing down Albert Crusat early on, even though Alvaro Negredo missed the resulting penalty.

Sevilla strengthened their claims to a UEFA Cup place with a rare away win - 3-2 at Real Mallorca.

Substitute Frederic Kanoute and Daniel Alves put the game beyond their hosts in the space of nine second-half minutes to hand Sevilla only their fifth away win of the season.

Renato had put the visitors ahead against the run of play only for Daniel Guiza to level within four minutes, but Kanoute and Alves proved the difference before Pierre Webo's late consolation.

The result moved Sevilla six points clear of Espanyol in the race for the final European place.

Espanyol's shocking form continued on Sunday as the Barcelona-based side lost 1-0 at home to lowly Osasuna.

January signing Martin Astudillo bagged the only goal of the game in the first half following a bad error of judgment from Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni.

Bartholomew Ogbeche struck a last-gasp equaliser for Real Valladolid on Sunday to deny Champions League-chasing Atletico Madrid an away win.

Maxi Rodriguez looked to have set the visitors on their way to three points when he broke the deadlock midway through the second half.

But Nigeria frontman Ogbeche had not read the script and salvaged a 1-1 draw in the 89th minute.

Deportivo La Coruna moved into the top half of the standings courtesy of a clinical 3-0 victory over in-form Athletic Bilbao at Riazor.

Fabricio Coloccini's fourth goal of the season on the half-hour mark paved the way for the Galicians to chalk up a third straight win and dispel any relegation worries.

Sergio Gonzalez added a second with a second-half penalty and Filipe grabbed a late third to seal a convincing win for Miguel Angel Lotina's side.

Pedro Leon scored the only goal of the game as rock-bottom Levante claimed a rare away victory - 1-0 at Real Betis.

The Valencia club ensured their demotion would be deferred for at least another fortnight when Leon netted after 54 minutes to clinch just their second away win this season.

Getafe's disappointing week continued as they were held to a goalless draw by 10-man Real Zaragoza.

A battling Zaragoza performance leaves them with a chance of avoiding the drop as they managed to snatch a point despite having Francelino Matuzalem sent off with 18 minutes remaining.

On Saturday, Racing Santander continue to fight for a place among Europe's elite next season with a 2-1 win over a lacklustre Valencia side.

Mohammed Tchite scored a late goal on the counter-attack to give all three points to Racing as they continued to stay on the heels of Atletico.

Gonzalo Colsa had given the visitors the lead on the hour mark before substitute David Villa levelled from the spot four minutes later.