Madrid make most of Barça draw

Real Madrid CF continue to set the pace at the summit of the Primera División after a 3-1 win against Real Racing Club Santander, while Sevilla FC suffered a surprise defeat at UD Almería and FC Barcelona were held by city rivals RCD Espanyol.

Raúl strikes
Madrid are four points clear at the top of Spanish standings after a comfortable home win. Raúl González opened the scoring at the Bernabéu after just four minutes and an own goal by Sergio Sanchez (11) gave the Spanish champions an early two-goal cushion. Raúl made it 3-0 with a 70th-minute free-kick before the visitors scored a consolation goal through Pedro Munitis (73).

Sevilla surprise
After overcoming Arsenal FC with a 3-1 UEFA Champions League victory on Tuesday, few expected Sevilla to encounter any problems against Almería but Peruvian defender Santiago Acasiete struck two minutes from time to leapfrog their opponents and move up to tenth place.

Derby draw
Barcelona looked as though they were going to make easy work of Espanyol at the Olímpico de Montjiuic when they took a sixth-minute lead through Andrés Iniesta following excellent work by Lionel Messi. Barça then twice struck the bar but the hosts came back into the match and grabbed an equaliser through Ferrán Corominas (69). The Blaugrana are second, level on 28 points with Villarreal CF, while Espanyol are two points further back in fourth.