Thursday also saw Almeria draw 1-1 at home to Racing Santander despite playing against 10 men for 75 minutes following the sending off of Racing defender Henrique Buss.

Despite being down to 10 men, Gustavo Colsa put Racing ahead before the break, before Albert Crusat equalized after 64 minutes. Almeria remain bottom of the table.

Wednesday night saw Leo Messi score a 77th minute goal as Barcelona won 1-0 away to third placed Valencia.

Messi's goal was the only difference between the two sides in a fast and physical game, although Barca will argue that they did create the best chances of the night.

The three points from the Mestalla stadium should give Barca a huge morale boost as Valencia was considered as one of the grounds where they could drop points and where Real Madrid have still to visit.

As things stand the Catalans have only dropped two points away from home all season.

Villarreal returned to winning ways thanks to Giuseppe Rossi's 21st minute goal at home to Hercules. The result strengthens Villarreal grip on a top four finish, while Hercules slip to fourth from bottom of the table and are suddenly in a fight to avoid relegation.

Getafe and Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 in their Madrid derby in a result that edges both sides closed to Europe.

Manu del Moral's third minute goal looked to have given Getafe the points, but Elias Mendes scored nine minutes from time to assure a share of the points. It was the Brazilian's first goal since signing for Atletico during the winter transfer window.

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