Deportivo La Coruña moved back to the top of the first division after beating Barcelona 2-0, with second half goals from Donato and Diego Tristán. Last week's leaders Celta were beaten 3-0 by Rayo Vallecano, and to make matters worse new Spanish international Catanha was sent off in the second half. Valencia thrashed Las Palmas 5-1 with two from Juan Sánchez to move to second ahead of Celta on goal average, and Real Madrid hung on to fourth spot after drawing 0-0 at Racing Santander on a wet Saturday night. Rain as well at Montjuic on Sunday affecting the second match in three days, with the game called off at half time with Real Sociedad winning 1-2. Mallorca stay bottom after losing at Bilbao 2-1 (Urzaiz scored both), and Alavés won their local Basque derby against Osasuna 2-0. Oviedo sank Zaragoza further with a 2-1 win, their first of the season, and Numancia surprised Málaga 1-3. Valladolid and Villarreal drew 0-0.

Sevilla kept their lead in the second division after drawing at Leganés, and they are a point ahead of Jaén who won 1-0 again. Levante are third after beating Extremadura by the same score. In the big match of the day, Atlético Madrid scored a 97th minute penalty to draw 1-1 at Betis after Salva was sent off near the end. Once again it was a low scoring day, with only 19 goals in the 11 matches. (01.10.00)