Barcelona lost for the first time since the opening day of the season, going down 1-2 to Espanyol.
After a scoreless first half in which Barcelona’s Keita was given his marching orders, de la Peña grabbed two within five minutes as Espanyol took full advantage of the extra man. Touré Yaya pulled one back for the home side but it wasn’t enough and the visitors claimed the three points.
It was a busy night for the referee, twelve yellow cards and one red!
Villarreal are back up into the Champions League spots after a 2-1 victory against Sporting. Bilic put the visitors ahead after only one minute, but it was a short-lived advantage as Rossi got the equaliser one minute later. A Capdevila header decided matters in the 35th minute.
Real Madrid are slowly but surely gaining on their arch rivals, another three points closer after a 6-1 thrashing of Betis.
Huntelaar and Raúl both scored twice, Higuain and Sergio Ramos getting the other two. Oliveira found the net for Betis in between times, all the goals coming in the first half. Presumably they were too tired to score any more after the break.