A surprise at the top of the division, where leaders Atlético Madrid fell to only their second home defeat of the season after losing 0-1 to one of their bogey teams Sporting Gijon. Good goalkeeping by the visitors' Valencia kept them in the game in the first half, but Burgos also had to make important saves from Lozano and Villa after the break before leaving the field injured. Dani had a penalty appeal waved away and Aguilera hit a post a quarter of an hour from the end. However Hibic got himself sent off for a second yellow card with four minutes to go, and David Pirri struck the resulting free kick past the despairing Sergio. Atlético are still well on line for promotion though, and remain fourteen points ahead of the fourth placed side.

Xerez were the big winners of the day, beating Jaén 1-0 with an injury time goal from top scorer Pineda to close the gap to seven points with Atlético. Bernd Schuster's team struggled though despite playing with three forwards throughout, and could have been behind if keeper Ramón had not saved from Navarro in the first half. Referee Velasco Carballo turned an appeal from the locals for a goal when Raúl appeared to stop the ball over the line, and inspired by substitute Lardín they spent most of the second half in their neighbours' side of the field. Jaén could still have scored on the odd counterattack, but Pineda finally gave the hosts the three points from Cubillo's corner.

Slip ups by all four teams behind them mean that Xerez move seven points clear of the chasing pack. As a result Oviedo still find themselves in third place despite a poor 1-1 draw at home to bottom club Levante. The visitors surprised them with an early headed goal by Martín Furiga from Kaiku's cross, and Esteban did well to save from Furiga soon afterwards. However Rubén Reyes latched on to Jaime's pass to make it all square in the second half, and the Asturians laid siege to Jon Ander's goal for the last half hour. Even so Esteban saved the day when Kaiku got free at the end.

Only two games played in the second division on Saturday evening, and both finished 0-0. The Andalucian derby between next to bottom side Poli Ejido and fifth placed Recreativo Huelva ended scoreless, ending the home side's brief run of two wins in a row. Poli's recent success, with a side packed with new signings, meant that a capacity 5,500 crowd turned up at the Santo Domingo stadium, but although they dominated the match they were unable to beat an inspired César. The keeper made important saves from Bordi and Arpón, and Angel Rodríguez rattled the crossbar with a shot in the first half. Deportivo's on loan striker Changui came on after the break, but he too failed to get the ball in the net and both sides settled for a point which leaves Poli where they were at the start of the day and Recre up a place to fourth.

Burgos and Eibar both lost a chance to gain on the leaders after their game also finished goal-less on Saturday. The Basque visitors played an ultra-defensive game, with some hard tackling which at times went unpunished by the referee. Burgos did most of the attacking, with several chances particularly in the second half when Isailovic hit the bar, but for the fifth game in a row they were unable to find the opposition's net. They have not won now since mid-January, and end the weekend down in ninth place. Eibar are a place above them on the strength of a better goal average, still five points away from the promotion spots but at least fairly sure of another season at this level.

Racing Santander lost a good opportunity to move up to the top three when they lost to their namesakes Racing Ferrol, their first home defeat in the Sardinero stadium in thirteen games. The Gallicians' new signing Grodzic scored the only goal, a brilliant solo effort just after half time, and he hit the post again in the last minute. Santander felt they should have had a penalty at the end when Regueiro was brought down by Jacob in the area, but the referee said no and the disgruntled fans whistled their own players as they came off. Ferrol's second victory in a row takes them level with Eibar and Burgos on 40 points.

Santander drop a place to fifth, a point behind Oviedo and Recreativo and one above Albacete, who's run of three wins in a row ended when they lost 3-1 at Córdoba. Manolo López opened the scoring for the home side with a quarter of an hour gone, but after the referee turned down an appeal by the home side in the second half for a penalty when a defender handled in the area, Toril levelled the scores from a free kick. However justice was restored later on when Platero beat Valbuena with a low shot, and Montenegro lobbed the keeper in injury time to round things off.

It was a weekend of draws in the second division, with six of the eleven games ending all square. Murcia and Badajoz shared the points after their game ended 1-1, a bit of a disappointment for the home side's new manager David Vidal after recording two wins in a row since he took over. His side took the lead through Pedro Largo, who headed home a corner before the break. However Jorge Zafra levelled the scores running on to Amarilla's long pass after the restart. Murcia end the weekend in sixteenth place, four points above the bottom four.

A 1-1 result as well between Elche and Numancia, with the visitors going in front after Redondo deflected Rosu's shot past his own keeper twelve minutes from the end. It looked as if the Soria side were going to get their first win in eight games before Raúl Ivars popped up in the last minute to equalise, upsetting Numancia's new manager Manu Sarabia so much that he got himself sent off for insulting the referee. A bad start for his first game in charge, and his team stay in the relegation zone in nineteenth place.

Numancia lose ground on the teams above them, especially Extremadura who moved up three places after defeating Leganés 2-1. Kiko returned to the side and had a hand in setting up Jesús for an early goal, and Jorge Pérez added a second five minutes in to the second half. However the home fans had to hold their breaths at the end when Iván Pérez pulled one back in the last minute. A second defeat in a row takes Leganés back into the relegation battle, and they drop to seventeenth in the table.

Gimnastic Tarragona missed out on a chance to go above Numancia, but in the end they were thankful for a point in a 2-2 home draw against Salamanca. Makukula put the visitors ahead twice to make him the league's top scorer with fourteen goals, but left back Méndez hit two first time volleys from outside of the area to give Nàstic a chance of salvation. Salamanca have now gone six games without a win, and they drop to fourteenth.