Matchday 20, almost perfect weekend for Real Madrid

Matchday 20 in the Spanish Liga Santander turned out to be almost perfect for Real Madrid who extended their league in the title race as they won their game, while all of their rivals dropped points.

Although Madrid were not at their best against a Real Sociedad who controlled large parts of the game, the Basque side lacked firepower while Real Madrid took the three clear cut chances which came their way.

Mateo Kovacic, who was perhaps Madrid's best player on the night, opened the scoring in the 37th minute after bursting through the visitors 'defense.

He then teed up Cristiano Ronaldo for Madrid's second goal six minutes after the break before Alvaro Morata finished off a textbook counter-attack with a diving header eight minutes from time.

Second placed Sevilla were beaten 3-1 away to Espanyol in a game which was an uphill battle from the first minute after Nico Pareja was adjudged to have committed a penalty on Pablo Piatti for which he was sent off.

Jose Antonio Reyes, a former Sevilla player, scored the penalty and although Stefan Jovetic equalized in the 20th minute, Espanyol made the extra man count in the second half with goals from Marc Navarro and Gerard Moreno.

Barcelona also dropped two vital points as they were held to a 1-1 draw away to Betis in a game where both sides could argue they deserved to win.

Barca rested players and were outplayed by an aggressive rival who hit the post twice before Alex Alegria finally put them ahead with 15 minutes remaining.

While Betis were the better side on the day Barca could claim they deserved to win after a 77th minute own goal was adjudged to have not crossed the Betis goal-line when replays showed it was well over.

Luis Suarez finally equalized in the last minute, but had the previous goal been given his strike would have been worth three points instead of just one.

Saturday saw Atletico Madrid's already slim title hopes recede still further when they were held to a 0-0 draw against to Alaves.

Alaves controlled possession and had nearly all of the chances against an almost unrecognizable Atletico, who were kept afloat by goalkeeper, Miguel Angel Moya in a game which ended with an unpleasant incident as Diego Godin and Devyerson both spat at each other.

Athletic Club Bilbao took three points as they came back from a goal down to beat struggling Sporting Gijon with second half goals from Iker Muniain and Aritz Aduriz.

Eibar's fine season continued as they ruined former coach, Gaizka Garitano's return to the Ipurua Stadium.

Sergi Enrich was the hero for Eibar, scoring their second goal and setting up Adrian Gonzalez and Lejeune for the first and third of the game.

Villarreal strengthened their claims for a place in Europe next season with a simple 2-0 win at home to bottom of the table Granada.

Bruno Soriano, making his 400th appearance for Villarreal, opened the scoring at the end of the first half, while Alvaro Gonzalez assured the win 17 minutes from time.

Finally Celta Vigo ended a week, which saw them knock out Real Madrid to reach the semi-final of the King's Cup, with a 2-0 win away to Leganes, who are in danger of being drawn into the relegation struggle. Endit