Nobody doubts that Atlético Madrid will be promoted to the first division this season, and even more so after they beat struggling Levante 2-4 on Thursday night to move seven points clear of second placed Xerez. Luis Aragonés has constructed a made-to-measure team for the second division, although he didn't get to see them finish this match as he was sent off shortly before half time after being shown a second yellow card by an overzealous referee. Pérez Izquierdo had already upset the veteran manager when he awarded a penalty to the home side half an hour in to the game for a foul by García Calvo on Ettien, although television pictures showed that the defender had got the ball cleanly with his tackle. Lima converted the spot kick to give the Valencia based side some hope of victory. However Fernando Torres showed his pace ten minutes later, getting between two defenders to poke the ball past Jon Ander. Correa put Atlético ahead after the break with a flying volley, but Kaiku slid the ball past Mono Burgos two minutes later to level the scores again. However substitute Diego Alonso hit a pile-driver past the Levante keeper three minutes from the end, and after Levante's Alberto Saavedra got himself sent off for a second bookable offence (the linesman reminding the referee it was his second yellow), Fernando Torres ran on to lift the ball over the unfortunate keeper for his second of the night. Levante drop to next to bottom, even deeper in trouble after Nàstic and Leganés both won.

Second placed Xerez kept up their push for promotion after drawing 1-1 on a freezing cold evening at Numancia. The Sorian side took the lead early on through Rosu after an awful defensive mix up, with Antonio making a bad back pass and keeper Ramón hitting a hurried clearance against his own post before the ball fell to the Romanian forward. Half time substitute Pacheta II, the nephew of their injured midfield player, made a good impression on his debut for the home side, but Cachorro scrambled an equaliser in the second half to keep Schuster's team two points ahead of the chasing pack. Numancia drop down to eighteenth place, and are now only two points above the drop zone.

Recreativo Huelva closed in on their Andalucian rivals after beating Elche 1-0 to record their twelfth game without defeat. The only goal came from Antoñito, their young striker on loan from Sevilla, with an individualist effort in the second half. Elche felt they should have had a penalty though near the end when the referee failed to spot that Loren had stopped Meca's shot with his hands inside the area, and Recre's Cheli hit the post in an otherwise eventless first half. Spain's oldest team open up a four point gap over the teams behind then, and Elche drop to fourteenth.

Burgos and Racing Santander cancelled each other out in a 0-0 draw, leaving both a little further away from the top spots in seventh and fourth places respectively. Racing played for the last quarter of the match with ten men after Neru picked up a second booking, and only a good performance by Lemmens in their goal saved them a point. The Cantabrians have not won away now since September, although they hang on to fourth position thanks to poor results from the teams below them.

Oviedo recorded their fifth draw in a row, this time 1-1 at Eibar, and they stay two points behind Racing in fifth place. Geni headed them in front early on from a Rubén Reyes free kick, but they missed several chances to extend their lead and ended up paying the price, substitute Aldeondo levelling the scores on the hour mark only a couple of minutes after coming on. Eibar stay in tenth position, still only three points behind their rivals.

Sporting Gijon put in their claim for a promotion spot with their fourth win in a row, beating Córdoba 3-0 to move up level with neighbours Oviedo and Burgos in sixth place. Once again the driving force was Villa, who scored his seventh in four games midway through the first half. Michel added a second from a free kick two minutes later, and although Córdoba's new manager García Remón threw on extra attacking players, Villa set up Pablo Alvarez to score into an empty net for the third near the end. Córdoba slip a place to sixteenth, only four points above the relegation places.

Albacete are a point behind Sporting after coming from two goals down to beat Badajoz 2-3. Defensive mistakes let in Jorge Zafra to open the scoring with a soft free kick and Oscar Sánchez to add to the lead with a centre-come-shot, taking the Extremadurians into the break with a comfortable cushion. However Corona and Leniz made it all square soon after half time with headed goals from two corners, and Toril converted a rigorous penalty in injury time by Cidoncha to give the visitors a surprise victory. Badajoz's short run of two victories in a row comes to an end, and they drop two places to eleventh.

Salamanca fell further behind the top group after drawing 0-0 against Murcia, for whom David Vidal was making his first appearance as manager after taking over from caretaker Chato González midweek. It was a boring, tedious game, and the freezing weather conditions meant the lowest turn out of the season at the Helmántico stadium. Salamanca did get a couple of shots on goal in the opening minutes, but after that neither goalkeeper was troubled, leaving the home side down in nith place and the visitors still in the bottom four, now two points away from safety.

Jaén put an end to Extremadura's run of seven matches without defeat, beating them 1-0 thanks to a goal in the third minute from Jurado who beat the offside trap to score. Kiko started his first game for the visitors in the absence of Pier and did give keeper Raúl a bit of trouble, but his side were overrun by a better team who were unlucky not to score more in the second half. Extremadura stay thirteenth, and Jaén join them on 33 points.

Gimnastic Tarragona recorded their third win in a row under new manager Lobo Diarte, and they move to within two points of safety. They beat Racing Ferrol 1-2 with a late goal from Deus after Marcelo's quick free kick. The visitors had taken the lead in the sixth minute through Castillejo before Ismael equalised early in the second half. Masiglia and Diawara made their debuts for Ferrol at half time, but their team were reduced to ten men soon afterwards when Iñigo was shown a red card.

Leganés moved further away from the drop zone above Numancia after beating bottom club Poli Ejido 2-0. Both goals came late in the game from second half substitutes Sivori and Arnal after Ejido's Zamorano had been sent off for a second bookable offence. Ex Rayo midfielder Poschner made his debut for the visitors in the second half, and Leganés new signing Ohen started the match for the home side.