Sevilla ended the first half of the season as winter champions despite losing by a single goal at Eibar. Coming in to this game with a four point advantage they were assured of keeping the lead, but they were surprised by an improving Eibar who have now won three out of their last four games. Leniz got the only goal of the game in the first half. Sevilla now have 40 points, one more than their city rivals Betis who beat Jaén by the same result, thereby getting revenge for their elimination from the cup by their neighbours. Cuéllar got the goal, heading in Joaquín's cross in the first minute after half time. The big talking point though was Denilson, who made his reappearance after returning from Brazil a few days ago. Third placed Tenerife returned to winning ways after only picking up one point in their last three games, beating Leganés 3-2 to stay a point behind Betis. Lussenhoff headed them into the lead in the first half, and although Alex levelled the scores just after the interval, Curro Torres and Martí put them two goals in front later in the half. However a late goal by Makukula gave supporters a fright before Valle Gil blew the final whistle. The referee was applauded off the park at the end after a first class performance (at least as far as the home supporters were concerned). Leganés drop to within two points of the relegation zone after their seventh game in a row without a win.

Fourth placed Recreativo fell 1-0 to Racing Ferrol, despite facing ten men for the last hour after Ferrol's Pavlicic was sent off. This was Racing's sixth game without letting in a goal, and they are now only a couple of points away from getting out of the relegation spots. Fran Nogueira got the goal early on after Razov headed on a corner. Salamanca took advantage of Recreativo's slip up to move above them on goal average with a 1-2 victory over Murcia. All three goals came in the last quarter of an hour, with visiting substitute Toedtli having a hand in both goals, the first by Munteanu and the second by Quique Martín. In between another substitute, the ex Real Madrid B striker Zárate, struck a shot from outside of the area past Aizpurua on his home debut to momentarily level the scores. With several teams bunched together in the middle of the table, Córdoba rose five places to sixth after beating Sporting 2-0. Gallego and Sivori got the goals in the second half for the Andalucian sides first win in two months. It was a first defeat for Sporting's new manager Pepe Acebal, who took over midweek after Cantatore resigned unexpectedly following the sacking of his son as physical trainer. Apparently players had been training behind Cantatore junior's back, unhappy with his methods, and his father took it badly, blaming himself for the failure.

No less than seven teams are within two points of Córdoba, including Atlético Madrid who came from behind in the last 20 minutes to beat local rivals Getafe 2-1. Atlético are starting to rise up the table, and with half a season to go and everybody beating everybody else, they feel they are still on line for promotion. Their new signing from Benfica, Dani, has still not got his transfer papers through as the Portuguese club are unhappy about the way he left them without their agreement (no change there then with Atlético), but it should be resolved soon, and with Fagiani already in the squad and Wicky due to sign soon things should pick up. Their midweek victory in the cup against Rayo Vallecano should also give them confidence, and with a quarter final tie against second division B side Granada to come, they should once again reach the semi-finals. However they did not impress much in this game, falling behind to a goal by Cameroon's Nzinkeu on the hour mark. That woke them up, and Roberto and then Hugo Leal restored their image and left the fans at least half-satisfied with two goals near the end. Getafe drop down to third from bottom, below Racing Ferrol, with Atlético now up at thirteenth on 28 points, level with Sporting and Murcia. Four teams are a point above them, including Albacete and Eibar, and also Badajoz and Levante, who are currently in eighth and seventh place respectively after cancelling each other out in a 1-1 draw. Both goals came in the second half from free kicks, with Xavi Moro's shot being deflected off a defender for the home team's opener, and Lima squeezing the ball under keeper Baines for the reply.

Down at the bottom, Universidad Las Palmas finally got their second win of the season, beating Albacete 1-0. It was a dull hard fought match, and just when the visitors thought they would be leaving with a point, Francis Santana headed an injury time winner to give the home fans (or fan?) something to shout about. They are still propping up the rest of the table though, two points below Lleida, who scraped a point at Extremadura with a goal-less draw. Extremadura were still smarting from their elimination from the cup by Espanyol, but they were unable to break down the Catalans' defensive wall and drop behind their rivals to fourteenth. Lleida, whose new signing Renaldo made his debut in this match, are losing ground on the other relegation candidates, with a four point gap now between them and the two teams above them, Getafe and Racing Ferrol. Three teams are two points above them, the aforementioned Leganés, and Compostela and Elche who drew 1-1 in their match against each other. Ohen headed the home side into the lead on the half hour mark and Serban made it all square with a free kick ten minutes from the end.