Barca Knock Athletic Into Drop Zone

Eight games were played Sunday in Spain's Premiera Division:

At Barcelona:

Xavi (30') and Samuel Eto'o (41') provided first-half tallies to propel Barcelona to a 3-0 face-slapping of struggling Athletic Bilbao (who now has fallen into the relegation zone). The win moved Barca to the top of the La Liga standings.

At Madrid:

Hosts Getafe held Sevilla to a 0-0 draw, which dropped the visitors down to second place in La Liga.

At Vigo:

With second-half goals from Pedro Munitis (55') and Christian Alvarez (PK-79'), Racing Santander bounced back from a two-goal halftime deficit to earn a 2-2 road draw with Celta Vigo, who, in turn, escaped from the relegation zone.

At Seville:

Visiting Recreativo Huelva blew a shot at moving into a UEFA Cup berth by being held to a 0-0 road stalemate by Real Betis.

At Villrreal:

With goals from Jon Dahl Tomasson (38') and Fabricio Fuentes (90'), Villarreal came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat visiting Mallorca 2-1.

At Valencia:

Visiting Real Zaragoza and Levante battled to a 0-0 deadlock.

At Tarragona:

Ruben Castro's equalizer at 90 minutes enabled cellar-dwelling Gimnastic de Tarragona to gain a 1-1 home draw with Valencia.

At Pamplona:

Espanyol, on the strength of goals from Ferran Coro (13') and Raul Tamudo (65'), polished off hosts Osasuna 2-0 for their fifth straight win.