First division - day 10

Status quo in the league this week as the top five teams all won. Two goals in the first quarter of an hour from Rossi and Llorente gave Villarreal a 2-1 victory over Almería, keeping them in second place in the table. The USA born Italian forward opened the scoring with an impressive shot just thirty seconds after the kick-off, and his strike partner got the second after Pires set him up a few minutes later. Piatti got one back for the visitors after Crusat laid back Bruno's cross on the hour mark, but Villarreal's unbeaten record remains intact.

Later in the evening Sevilla got back to winning ways after a 1-0 win over Recreativo. The Andalusians had lost three in a row, but Kanouté returned to the line-up to score the only goal of the game from a Jesús Navas cross midway through the second half. The striker should have increased the lead from the penalty spot though after Morris fouled Diego Capel, but Diego Alves saved his kick.

And in the last match of the weekend, Valencia won 0-3 at Getafe to stay level with Real Madrid in third place. Manuel Fernandes latched on to Mata's pass to open the scoring with half an hour gone, and the locals were left with ten men when Soldado was shown a red card after a clash of heads with a theatrical Marchena. Joaquín volleyed home the second after the restart, and Vicente wrapped things up later on.

Deportivo are up to sixth spot after beating Espanyol 1-0, their second victory in a row. Guardado scored what was to prove the winner with a spectacular shot after Riki chested back Lafita's cross shortly before the break, and Bodipo came close to making it two when he hit the post after the restart. Both keepers had work to do though in an active second half.

Atlético Madrid drop a place to seventh after they were held to a 0-0 draw at bottom club Osasuna. The Pamplona side have yet to win this season, and they were unable to score even from the penalty spot, Coupet saving Portillo's kick after Pernía had fouled Juanfran in the twentieth minute.

Racing Santander moved up to the top half of the table after a 1-0 win over Sporting Gijón. Tchité netted his fifth in eight days with a shot which took a wicked deflection off Camacho to give the Cantabrians the three points. The result puts an end to Sporting's run of five victories in a row.

Goals in the other two matches, with late strikes from Ion Vélez and Llorente saving a point for Athletic Bilbao in a 3-3 draw with Mallorca. An Iraola penalty shortly before the break cancelled out Cléber's tenth minute header, but two from Arango earlier in the second half seemed to have won it for the home side before the Basque side fought back.

Athletic stay in the drop zone though, just below Numancia, who were beaten 2-4 by Betis. Del Pino's opener was soon levelled by an Emaná penalty, and two in a minute on the stroke of half time from Mehmet Aurelio and Juanito gave the Andalusians the lead. Barkero got one back after the restart, but a second goal from Mehmet Aurelio put the result beyond doubt. (09.11.08)

Leaders Barcelona made it eight league wins in a row after a 6-0 thrashing of Valladolid on Saturday evening. Once again the most of the goals came in the first half, with Samuel Eto'o scoring four himself by the break. The Cameroonian striker latched on to an Alves pass to open the scoring early on, fired home the second a few minutes later after Asenjo could only push out a shot from Henry, and added two more in the three minute run up to the interval after good work by Messi. Gudjohnsen took advantage of some sloppy defending to score the fifth midway through the second half, and Henry completed the "set" near the end.

Strangely though Eto'o was not the only player to score four, Higuaín doing the same earlier in the evening as Real Madrid came from behind three times to beat Málaga 4-3. Eliseu put the visitors ahead in the sixth minute, and although Higuaín equalised two minutes later, Baha restored the lead soon afterwards. Higuaín converted a penalty to level the scores once again, but Sergio Ramos was sent off for stepping on Eliseu on the stroke of half time, and Apoño drove home a second penalty after the restart to put Málaga in front for the third time. Higuaín completed his hat-trick though a minute later, and scored the winner with twelve minutes to go on the follow up after his own penalty kick was saved by Arnau. (08.11.08)