Leaders Sevilla moved to the gates of the first division on Saturday evening with a 1-3 away victory against struggling Universidad Las Palmas. Zalayeta opened the scoring for the visitors early on, and although Alexis equalised from the penalty spot three minutes later, Fredi put Sevilla back in the lead before half time. Olivera wrapped things up soon after the break with another penalty after he himself was brought down by the Canary Islanders' keeper Moisés. At the end of the weekend the Andalucian side opened up an eight point gap over fourth place, and they now only need two points from their three remaining games to be sure of promotion. Universidad are almost certainly relegated after their defeat, now nine points away from safety, and only a miracle can save them.

Betis moved up into second place, four points behind Sevilla, after a narrow 1-0 victory over Getafe. The only goal of the game was scored by Amato from the penalty spot after the striker himself was brought down by Cañizares ten minutes in to the second half. Amato has now scored 16 goals since he joined Betis in the winter, and is already fourth in the second division top goalscorers' chart. They are now a point ahead of Tenerife, who could only draw 1-1 at home to Salamanca despite taking the lead through new signing Bruno Marioni on the half hour mark. Marioni, who started this season at Villarreal but was displaced with the arrival of Martín Palermo, was taken on to replace Brazil's Barata, who himself had his licence removed following the passport scandal. Quique Martín equalised ten minutes from the end to cost the Canary Islanders what could be a vital two points. Next week they travel to Sevilla, and a defeat there could leave them out of the promotion spots. Betis travel to Levante, and they can thank Spain's manager Camacho for not calling up under 21 international Joaquín for that match.

Atlético Madrid struggled to beat neighbours Leganés 1-0, but it was enough to take them up to fourth place and move them to within three points of Tenerife. Luque got the only goal of the game ten minutes into the second half with a shot from outside of the area to take the three points. Spain's under 16 striker Fernando Torres, (now 17 years old), made his debut in the second half to great applause from the 42,000 crowd. Next week Atlético visit the team directly below them in the table, Albacete, without six of their first team squad, with Hugo Leal, Wicky and Hibic called up for international duty and Santi, Njegus and Salva all suspended. Top scorer Salva has already missed eight games through suspension this season. Albacete lost ground on the promotion spots after drawing 0-0 at Badajoz, and are now two points behind Atlético. The intense heat which at times reached 40ºC in that part of Spain, together with the suffocating play of Badajoz, who have drawn 20 times this season including eight times without goals, meant that there was little football to see at the Nuevo Vivero stadium. Albacete's Corona was sent off in the last minute for a second bookable offence.

Las week's fourth placed Recreativo Huelva were beaten 3-1 by neighbours Jaén and drop two places down the table to sixth. Referee Rubinós Pérez awarded three penalties in the game, the first converted by David for the visitors in the eleventh minute and the other two scored by Pepelu and Nono for the home side later on. Jurado added the third for Jaén near the end to give the visitors their first away defeat in ten weeks. Rubinós also sent off three players, Milosevic from Jaén and Juanito from Recreativo within the first quarter of an hour (both direct red cards) and Recreativo's Ignacio (two yellows) early in the second half, leaving the Huelva side virtually out of the promotion race. It must be said that they have had an incredible campaign having only saved themselves from relegation thanks to the bankruptcy of Mérida, although the team is expected to be broken up at the end of the season as many players end contracts or are being poached by larger clubs.

Elche beat Eibar 2-0 on Saturday night to move away temporarily at least from the bottom four. Goals from Nadj and Changui a minute either side of half time helped them move on to 42 points, one behind Racing Ferrol who were beaten at home 2-3 by Sporting Gijon. The visitors raced into a three goal lead with strikes from Pablo Alvarez and Manel and an own goal by Horcajada, but late goals from Pazolo and Razov almost saved a point for Racing. The results virtually condemn Universidad to the second division B, where they will join bottom club Lleida, who were mathematically relegated last week. They lost again, this time 3-0 at Córdoba. José Mari, Soria and Rafa Moreno were the scorers before the game was an hour old. Lleida stay on 24 points, and are in line for one of the lowest points totals in the history of the second division.

As the season comes to a close the final relegation spots are becoming clearer. Getafe's defeat at Betis leaves them with one foot in the second division B, and it could be two if the disciplinary committee decides to overturn their 2-1 victory last week against Compostela. The home side accidentally fielded four non-EU players for the last five minutes of the first half after making a substitution (the maximum is three), and under the league regulations that is punishable by a 0-3 result in favour of their opponents. If that happens it will favour Compostela, who only picked up a point against Levante. It should have been three after Juanito gave them the lead just before the break and Ettien got himself sent off for the visitors, but a Lima goal near the end gave the Valencia side their sixth draw in a row. Levante's Juba got into trouble with the referee for apparently insulting him (implying that he was implicated in drug trafficking!), and could get a heavy ban. Elche's victory leaves Compostela down in the last relegation spot with 40 points, but if they get the three points from the appeal then only four points will separate five teams, including Elche, Compostela, Ferrol, Leganés and also Murcia, who lost 2-0 to Extremadura, with goals by Pedro José in the first half and Ismael at the end of the match. Murcia's Kortina was sent off in the second half, but it had little effect as they went on to their seventh home win in a row.