Raul poked home Robinho's cross to put the visitors in front after 13 minutes and substitute Gonzalo Higuain wrapped up the points in stoppage time.

Bernd Schuster's side are now 10 points ahead of Villarreal and 11 of Barcelona, who drew 0-0 with Espanyol yesterday, with only five matches of the season remaining.

The Yellow Submarine moved up to second after goals from Nihat Kahveci and Santi Cazorla gave them a 2-0 victory over struggling Real Valladolid.

Deportivo La Coruna's astonishing transformation from relegation candidates to potential European participants continued with a 1-0 win at Osasuna thanks to Sergio's controversial penalty.

Levante's stay of execution will continue for another week after they claimed a 3-1 win over Getafe.

Dani Guiza bagged a hat-trick as Real Mallorca condemned lowly Real Murcia to a 4-1 home defeat.

In tonight's late kick-off, Athletic Bilbao heaped the pressure on under-fire Valencia coach Ronald Koeman after romping to a 5-1 victory.