Madrid were below-par and laboured through the opening 75 minutes.

However, when referee Fernandez Borbolan correctly adjudged Jose Serrano to have handled Gonzalo Higuain's cross, Van Nistelrooy swept home the penalty to put the visitors in front.

The Holland international then scored his second of the game with just two minutes left on the clock.

The win increased Madrid's advantage over second-placed Barcelona, who thrashed Murcia 4-0 on Saturday night.

Eidur Gudjohnsen put the Catalan giants ahead before a Bojan Krkic strike and a late double from Samuel Eto'o gave Frank Rijkaard's men a convincing win.

Atletico Madrid climbed up to third on Sunday after scraping past troubled Valencia 1-0.

Sergio Aguero netted the only goal of a scrappy encounter at the Vicente Calderon as Atletico took advantage of Espanyol's shock defeat at Almeria to move into the top three.

Espanyol's 17-match unbeaten run came to a sorry end when they were deservedly beaten 1-0 by Almeria.

The Barcelona-based side produced a sterile performance and went down to a late strike from substitute Kalu Uche.

Villarreal twice came from behind to beat Deportivo La Coruna 3-2.

Sergio Gonzalez put the Galicians in front with a penalty on 27 minutes, but Giuseppe Rossi levelled moments later with another spot-kick.

Deportivo then retook the lead on the hour mark through Pablo Amo, but were pegged back again by Nihat Kahveci minutes later.

The Turkey striker popped up again with his side's third on 69 minutes and substitute Jon-Dahl Tomasson added a fourth from the penalty spot late on to secure a valuable victory for the hosts and compound the misery of a Depor side short on confidence and now four points from safety in the Primera Liga.

The visitors also finished with 10 men after Amo was sent off for the foul which led to the penalty, but did grab a late consolation through Andres Guardado.

Racing Santander maintained their chase of the top five after late goals from Gonzalo Colsa and Pablo Alvarez gave them a smash-and-grab 2-0 win over struggling Osasuna.

Joseba Llorente scored a superb hat-trick as Real Valladolid beat Recreativo Huelva 3-1.

Javier Camunas got the visitors' goal.

Getafe almost pulled off an incredible comeback from three goals down against Real Betis but fell just short in their brave bid to snatch a point.

Mariano Pavone gave the hosts the lead in the fifth minute and Edu doubled their advantage half an hour later.

It looked like Getafe were dead and buried when Pavone fired home a third on the hour but a penalty from Ruben De la Red two minutes later and a Manu strike set up a nervy climax.

Diego Milito's double was not enough to give Real Zaragoza a much-needed win at home to Real Mallorca.

The Argentina striker's second of the afternoon put Zaragoza in front after Fernando Varela had stunned the La Romareda crowd with the opener after 17 minutes.

But the hosts, who are struggling to reproduce last year's form when they finished sixth, could not hold on and half-time substitute Daniel Guiza netted an equaliser after 62 minutes.

It was announced after the game that Zaragoza coach Victor Fernandez had left the club by mutual consent.

In addition to Barca's success on Saturday, there was also a win for Athletic Bilbao against Sevilla.

A 28th-minute goal from Fran Yeste put the home side on their way to victory and the three points were secured when Markel Susaeta slotted home from close range midway through the second period.

By then Athletic's task had been made a good deal easier by the 52nd-minute dismissal of Sevilla defender Julien Escude.