Barça brings Hércules back down to earth to extend lead over Real

Top-placed Barcelona successfully negotiated a potential stumbling block at Hércules - the team that had beaten it 0-2 at Camp Nou back at the start of the season - and then watched as Real Madrid stumbled to only its second Liga defeat of the season at Osasuna on Sunday. Javier Camuñas scored the only goal of the game in Pamplona to leave Real seven points behind Barça.

For the champion, it was business as usual as it dispatched Hércules 0-3 at the Rico Pérez on Saturday with one goal from Pedro and two by Leo Messi.

At the other end of the standings, previously bottom-placed Levante got a much-needed lift on Saturday with a 2-0 home victory over a freefalling Getafe, which hasn't won in the La Liga since before Christmas. Goals from Valdo and Felipe Caicedo early in the second half were enough to see off the visitor, leaving Levante coach Luis García steeled for the fight ahead and Getafe coach Míchel with plenty of cause for concern.

"I am worried about the functioning of the team," said Málaga's Pellegrini

"It served to break the dynamic and we are very happy," García said, adding that this was the Levante "we want to be."

Replacing the Valencia side at the foot at the table is Málaga after it suffered what coach Manuel Pellegrini described as a "worrying defeat" to fellow struggler Real Zaragoza in the Mediterranean city's La Rosaleda on Saturday. Although Duda had put the Andalusians ahead on 15 minutes, strikes from Nicolás Bertolo before half time and Florent Sinama Pongolle on 86 minutes handed the win to the visitor. A contented Javier Aguirre said the game "had been the most complete" of the five he has so far presided as Zaragoza coach, praising his players' togetherness, while Pellegrini admitted he was "worried about the functioning of the team because we are not finding the level we want."

Like Zaragoza, also notching up both its third victory on the trot and first away success of the season on Saturday was Sporting Gijón, which tore apart Mallorca 4-0 at its Iberostar Estadi. Diego Castro put Manuel Preciado's team ahead after three minutes, before an own goal by Kevin and strikes by Andrés Castro and Nacho Novo in the second half sealed a win that boosted it up to 12th ahead of Hércules and Deportivo La Coruña - the Galician side having earned a controversial point in a six-goal thriller against a 10-man Sevilla in the Riazor.

A linesman's offside call was overruled by the referee when full back Laure broke through to score the 88th-minute equalizer, another unlucky call for a Sevilla side that had only last week been denied Luis Fabiano's did-it-or-didn't-cross-the-line strike against Real Madrid in the King's Cup by the referee. Depor looked to be sitting pretty after Lassad Nouioui had put it two goals ahead and Sevilla keeper Andrés Palop had been sent off for handling outside the area on 57 minutes. But a brace of strikes by Álvaro Negredo, either side of one by Julien Escudé, put the Andalusians back on top.