Atletico Madrid dropped to fifth after being held to a 1-1 draw away to struggling Espanyol, who took the lead in the 24th minute after the impressive Raul de Tomas forced an own goal from Stefan Savic.

Jan Oblak kept Atletico in the game before halftime and Saul Niguel gave the visitors a point with a shot from outside of the area in the first minute of the second half.

Real Sociedad's excellent season continued and the side from San Sebastian warmed up for their Copa del Rey semi-final return leg away to Mirandes on Wednesday night with a workmanlike 1-0 win at home to Valladolid.

An Adnan Januzaj header just before the hour finished a well-worked move to give Real Sociedad all three points in a game where they did just enough to win.

Valencia lost striker Maxi Gomez to injury but second half goals from Kevin Gameiro and Dani Parejo were enough to give them a 2-1 win away to Betis, who netted an 92nd minute consolation goal through Loren Moron in the 92nd minute.

The result lifts the pressure on Valencia boss Albert Celades, but Betis' Joan Ferrer 'Rubi' is in danger of losing his job after a run of poor results.

Raul Garcia's second half penalty gave Athletic Club Bilbao a 1-0 win at home to Villarreal and ended a run of 10 games without a triumph. The home side would have won by more but for an excellent performance from Villarreal keeper Sergio Asensio, who saved a second penalty from Inaki Williams and produced several other fine stops to keep his side in the game until the end.

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