The second division was thrown wide open this weekend as non of the top three clubs won. Atlético Madrid kept their hopes of promotion alive on Saturday night with a 2-0 victory over leaders Sevilla at the Vicente Calderón stadium. Another 50,000+ crowd turned up to watch their heroes take the lead through Salva in the second half after the defence were caught ball watching. It was the Spanish international's twentieth of the season, and keeps him at the top of the second division Pichichi chart. Roberto headed a second later on for the final result. The game was marred at the end though by the sending off of substitute Hernández for a trip on a Sevilla player from behind and also of Salva for a second bookable offence, leaving Atleti with nine men, and both will miss Atleti's next match at least. Hernández has only played in twelve games, but this was his fourth red card of the season, and Salva is not far behind him with three. Sevilla stay top of the table on 67 points, and Atlético move up to two points behind third placed Betis.

Following the defeat of their city rivals Sevilla, third placed Betis were beaten at home 1-2 by Albacete, who still have an outside chance of promotion. José gave the visitors the lead in the seventh minute and the scoreboard didn't move again until twenty minutes from time when Denilson equalised for the home side. However their joy was short-lived as Javi Guerrero put Albacete back in front five minutes later, and they held on to their lead despite playing with ten men after Corona got his marching orders. Betis did feel they were hard done by though, as the ball appeared to go out of play in the move leading to the second goal. Albacete stay sixth, just four points now behind their rivals. Meanwhile Tenerife were being held at home by the 0-0 specialists Eibar. Referee Rubinos Pérez was booed off the pitch by the home fans after he disallowed a goal from Charcos and then sent off Pier. However the Canary Island side ended the day a point closer to the leaders after their defeat, and only three points now separate the top two.

The crowd scenes at Tenerife were mild though compared to Huelva, where fourth placed Recreativo were held to a 1-1 draw by Levante. Although referee Téllez Sánchez awarded a penalty to the home side after 20 seconds when Bodipo was brought down, (which Oscar converted), Levante levelled later in the half through an Alberto free kick. However Téllez turned down other penalty appeals, and when he incorrectly disallowed Soto's goal for offside two minutes into stoppage time the crowd invaded the pitch. There were ugly scenes too after the game, with angry fans attacking the Levante players and throwing stones through the windows of their team coach, and their ground could be closed as a result. Only two weeks ago the Recreativo president José España threatened to pull his team out of the league after accusing the referees of a plot to ensure they were not promoted, and accusations were levelled by Recreativo, Tenerife and Betis this week against Atlético Madrid, who they say are being favoured by the decisions against them. Huelva's point does however move them to within two of Betis, and they stay ahead of Atlético on goal average.

With five games to go any one of the top six is in with a chance of filling the three promotion spots. Seventh placed Sporting do still have an outside chance as well after beating Compostela 1-2, although they would probably have to win all their remaining games to do so. They went in to a two goal lead through Alberto and Ledhiakov before Gudelj pulled one back near the end. Their victory opens up a four gap over Córdoba and Salamanca, who cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw. Marcos Márquez scored for the home side in the first half, with Toedtli replying for the visitors after the interval. Jaén moved up to within a point of both of them after beating struggling Getafe 3-1, with Rueda scoring from the penalty spot in the first half and Pepelu and Carlos Torres adding two more in the second. Trigo got a consolation for the visitors with a quarter of an hour to go. Jaén have now won their last five home games.

The first issue of the season was decided, with bottom club Lleida being mathematically relegated after losing 1-0 to Badajoz, Leandro getting the only goal in the second half. The Catalan side came up to the second division A eleven years ago under the management of Mané (now at Alavés), and they even had one albeit disastrous season in the first division in 1993/4. The team above them Universidad Las Palmas are putting up a strong rearguard action though, and they won again, 2-1 against Murcia, to move to within a point of Getafe. Yeray got both their goals, with Loreto equalising briefly before Meloño got sent off. They are still six points behind Compostela though, and the three remaining relegation spots look like being disputed between four teams after Racing Ferrol pulled four points clear of Compostela with a 1-0 win over Leganés, their eighth game in a row without defeat. Aira got the only goal from the penalty spot late on after Razov was pushed down in the penalty area by Macanas. Compostela's defeat by Sporting leaves them only a point above the drop zone, with Elche closing up on them after beating Extremadura 3-1. Serban scored two, including a penalty, and although Ismael got one back, also from a penalty, Nino sealed the victory two minutes from the end.

The second division B moves into the play-off stages this week after the initial regional league stage ended this weekend. Sixteen teams will be divided into four cross-regional groups who will play each other home and away. The winner of each group will be promoted to the second division A. The qualifying teams from the four regional groups were as follows:
Group I: Atlético Madrid B, Ourense, Zamora, Toledo
Group II: Burgos, Cultural Leonesa, Amurrio, Calahorra
Group III: Gramanet, Gimnastic Tarragona, Sabadell, Espanyol B
Group IV: Cadiz, Polideportivo Ejido, Xerez, Ceuta.

The draw for the four mini-leagues will take place early next week. Obviously Atlético Madrid B can only be promoted if their first team win promotion from the second division A.