Atlético Madrid defeated Betis 2-1 in the match of the day on Sunday to keep up their outside hope of promotion to the first division. The match was played in front of a capacity 55,000 crowd, with 15,000 rolls of paper and confetti thrown on to the pitch before kick off. Aguiler and Arzu took the score to 1-1 at half time, but an individualist goal by Dani in the second half gave Atleti the three points. They move up to sixth after their third victory in a row, still seven points away from the promotion spots but rising higher every day. Betis stay second but their first defeat in thirteen games means they lose ground on their city rivals, leaders Sevilla. A Nico Olivera hat trick, which included two penalties, helped them to a 4-2 victory over Leganés to take them four points clear. Lambea opened the scoring for the visitors and Miguel levelled the scores at two all, but a Zalayeta goal before half time and Olivera's hat-trick shortly afterwards gave them the three points, with Leganés reduced to ten men in injury time after Macanas was sent off. Olivera is now the league's top scorer with 12 goals.

Third placed Tenerife were held to a 1-1 draw by fifth placed Recreativo Huelva on Saturday evening, despite playing against ten men for half the match after David was sent off for a second bookable offence. Lussenhoff saved them a point in the second half after Camacho's early goal for the visitors. The slip up by the two teams above them gave fourth placed Salamanca an opportunity to go above them, but they weren't up to the task, losing 1-2 at home to Albacete. Javi Guerrero gave the visitors the lead in the first half, and Juanlu added a second after the break before Pinilla pulled one back in injury time. Albacete are now seventh, and Badajoz move to a point behind them after they hung on against Racing Ferrol to win 1-0 with a second half goal from Leandro.

The bottom four all drew, with the only goals coming at Lleida, who drew 1-1 with Elche. Garrido gave them hope of victory with an early goal, but Nino sank them further towards the second division with the equaliser in the second half. The other three all drew 0-0, Compostela at Córdoba (with Zoran Maric in charge of Compostela after Ballesta was fired last week), Getafe at Eibar (Eibar's seventh game without defeat), and Universidad Las Palmas at home to Jaén (Milosevic was sent off near the end for the visitors).

At least there were higher scores in the other two matches, with Murcia winning 5-0 against Sporting, all the goals coming in the last quarter of the game with a couple from Loreto, and others from Zárate, Aguilar (penalty) and Quique Torres, and Extremadura winning their second game in a row against promotion hopefuls Levante by 2-1. Pico and Karanka gave the home side the lead in the first half, and Peragón got one back in the second half. Levante's manager José Carlos Granero got himself a red card during the game.