First division day 30

Real Madrid kept their eight point lead at the top after beating Villarreal 4-0. In the absence of Morientes and Raúl, Guti came in at centre forward to hit a hat-trick, the first a spectacular volley from a Roberto Carlos cross in the first half. Roberto Carlos added a fourth himself from a 30 yard free kick in the second half.

Deportivo La Coruña came from behind to beat Osasuna with a late goal by substitute Fernando. Iván Rosado had given the Pamplona side the lead in the first half, but Makaay equalised after the break. The win opens up a three point gap over Valencia, who lost disappointingly at home 1-2 to Alavés. Mendieta headed into his own net early on, but Vicente levelled scores before half time. However a header by Eggen in the second half took the Vitoria team up to sixth pending Celta's game on Sunday.

Barcelona recorded their second 4-4 draw in a week, this time at home to Zaragoza. The visitors went two goals up at half time through Esnaider and Jamelli, and José Ignacio and Esnaider scored two more in the second half after Overmars and then Kluivert had pulled goals back. But another by Kluivert and an injury time free kick by Rivaldo gave both sides a point. (14.04.01)

A last minute goal by substitute Carlos gave Mallorca a 2-1 victory over Las Palmas to take them over Barcelona into the fourth Champions League spot. Guayre had equalised for the visitors just before the break after Siviero had given Mallorca the lead earlier in the first half. Barcelona are now down in the UEFA positions together with Alavés after rivals Celta lost 3-0 to Racing Santander, their first defeat in twelve games. Referee Esquinas Torras allowed an Espina goal scored from an offside position to stand, and left the visitors with nine men before half time, sending off Mostovoi and Berizzo for protesting. Racing scored two more before the interval from Regueiro and Amavisca, but the game ended without further incident after Víctor Fernández substituted three players at half time.

Racing's victory takes them out of the drop zone on goal average ahead of Real Sociedad, who drew 3-3 at relegation rivals Numancia. Real were two goals ahead of their opponents with twenty minutes to go, with De Khokhlov and De Paula scoring in the second half after Rubén Navarro had equalised De Pedro's early strike in the first, but goals from Pacheta and substitute Rosu made it all square. Numancia stay bottom, level with Osasuna and two points behind the Santander and San Sebastian sides. Real Sociedad's John Toshack was one of two managers to get a red card, together with Bilbao's Txetxu Rojo. His side lost at home 0-1 to Espanyol, with Tamudo once again the sole goal scorer, to leave the Basque team floundering in the lower half of the table.

A single goal too from Valladolid's Pachón late in the second half gave them a narrow 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers Oviedo, their first win under caretaker manager Pepe Moré. The result leaves Oviedo only two points ahead of Racing and Real Sociedad. In the other game played on Sunday, Málaga and Rayo Vallecano drew 1-1 to leave them both further away from the UEFA spots. Darío Silva opened the scoring for the home side early on, but an individualist effort from Michel levelled the scores before half time. (15.04.01)