First division, day 8

Barcelona held on to their five point lead at the top of the table with a comfortable 3-0 win over Osasuna on Sunday night. Ronaldinho set up Eto'o for the opening goal six minutes before the break, and then scored himself from the penalty spot after Puñal barged him over four minutes later. And Eto'o wrapped things up right at the end of the match with his second of the night and his seventh in the league, making him la Liga's current top scorer.

Sevilla moved clear in second spot after beating fourth placed Atlético Madrid 2-1. Aitor Ocio got the first goal early on following a short free kick, and Baptista put the game beyond Atlético's reach with a an individualist strike after the restart. The visitors did get one back in the last minute when Pablo scored from close up following a corner, but it was already too late.

Espanyol took advantage of poor results of the teams around them to move back up to fourth in the table after beating Levante 0-2. Both goals came after the break, with Oscar Serrano getting his first goal in the top flight with a shot in off the post, and Lopo making it two twenty minutes later.

Espanyol head up a group of six teams on 13 points, including both Madrids, Levante, Osasuna and also Zaragoza, who were beaten 1-0 by Racing Santander. Víctor Muñoz made rested several key players after Thursday night's UEFA cup tie and paid the price, an early Regueiro goal giving the Cantabrians their first home win in eight months.

Racing move out of the relegation spots, leaving their place in the bottom three to Getafe, who were beaten 0-2 by Betis even though they outplayed them for much of the match and had a man extra for the last half hour after Lembo was sent off. The Madrid based side had two goals disallowed, but fell to second half strikes from Rivas and Oliveira.

Mallorca remain in the drop zone after losing 2-1 to Real Sociedad, and manager Benito Floro will probably be out of a job if his side can't beat Rayo Vallecano in the cup midweek. An Arango header cancelled out Karpin's early penalty and looked like saving them a point before substitute De Paula struck near the end.

Real Sociedad move two points away from the relegation spots, level with fellow Basques Athletic Bilbao, who put out a team packed with youngsters and lost 1-0 at Albacete. Rubén Castro headed the only goal of the match from a corner on the stroke of half time to take his side on to the same number of points as their opponents.

Numancia stay at the foot of the table though, and they look like having a long, hard season after losing 4-0 at Villarreal. Riquelme opened the scoring in the first half and set up Héctor Font for a second after the break, and Font (with a spectacular overhead kick) and Forlán added two more later on. (24.10.04)

For the second time in four days, a Michael Owen goal gave Real Madrid a 1-0 victory. The England striker ran on to Raúl's through ball early in the match against Valencia and fired a shot past Cañizares to repeat his strike against Dynamo Kiev earlier in the week. It was Madrid's fourth single goal victory in the league this season, and they move up to within a point of their rivals in the table.

Earlier in the evening Málaga and Deportivo La Coruña shared the points in a 1-1 draw. Wanchope put the home side ahead in the seventh minute, beating Molina after Leko put him through, but substitute Diego Tristán levelled the scores four minutes from the end, heading home a cross from Munitis. It was the striker's first goal since returning from injury a few days ago. (23.10.04)