Betis took advantage of poor results by Tenerife and Sevilla to move to within two points of the leaders, winning 0-2 at Getafe. Youngster Joaquín opened the scoring in the first half, and Cuéllar came off the bench for the last two minutes to win a penalty and convert it himself for the second. Tenerife were beaten 3-1 by Salamanca and have now only taken four points from their last four games. The home side were two up at half time, both goals by Argentina's Silvani, and Munteanu added a third in the first minute of the second half. Mista got a consolation goal in injury time. Salamanca rise up to fifth with 29 points, and Tenerife stay top on goal average ahead of Sevilla, both with 34. Sevilla were surprised at home by bottom club Universidad Las Palmas, who went into a two goal lead with strikes by Jon Bakero and Francis Santana. However two goals in six minutes by Zalayeta and Casquero around the hour mark salvaged a point.

Recreativo kept in touch with the top spots after defeating Jaén 2-0, extending their unbeaten run to ten games, and they stay fourth a point behind Betis. Xisco and Soto got the goals, one in each half, and Jaén's Nono was sent off a half an hour into the match with a direct red card. Levante lost at home to Compostela thanks to two late goals from Juanito, and Albacete could only draw 1-1 at home to Badajoz, who have now gone eight games without defeat. Only just though, as Pepín equalised in injury time after José had given the home side a late lead. Extremadura closed to within a point of Levante and Albacete thanks to a David Karanka hat-trick, which included two in the last four minutes, the last a penalty. The young striker gave his team an early lead, but Murcia seemed to be heading to a draw after Loreto equalised, before Karanka's sting in the tail. Murcia have gone off the boil recently, and their fans whistled them off the park at the end as they drop to twelfth.

Salva made a goal out of nothing in the second half to keep up Atlético Madrid's mini-revival. They beat Leganés 1-2 in a local derby which was delayed a day to allow the game to be televised. Macanás gave the home side the lead but Hibic levelled the scores by half time. The three points takes Atleti above their rivals up to thirteenth, and a couple of victories early in January could even see them heading towards the upper half of the table. Salva currently heads the second division Pichichi table with ten goals. US international striker Ante Razov made his debut for Racing Ferrol and scored the equaliser in his team's 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijon minutes after Lediakhov gave the home side the lead. His team still drop down to next to bottom though, after Lleida recorded only their third win of the season, beating Córdoba 2-0 with a goal in each half from Djokaj and González. With Compostela winning, Elche are now heading perilously close to the bottom four. With their new manager Bracum watching from the stands, they lost 2-1 to Eibar. Joseba Llorente scored twice for the Basques, the second a penalty, and Serban replied for the visitors before the game degenerated into a farce after referee Muñoz Juste sent off three players, including Prieto and Llorente for Eibar and Chagui for Elche.