Mallorca continued their push for a European place with a win over Osasuna, while there were also wins for Sevilla, Getafe and Villarreal in Sunday's La Liga action.
Xerez put in a brave performance but were defeated by Racing Santander, meanwhile Almeria kept out of the drop zone by drawing with Deportivo.
Valladolid came from behind to claim a point against Malaga and Getafe earned a win over Tenerife. Villarreal snatched a last-gasp win over Atletico Madrid and Sevilla went third after their win over Sporting Gijon.
Mallorca carved out a useful 1-0 win over Osasuna to maintain their fine form.
Gonzalo Castro bagged the decisive goal, the midfielder firing a shot past the hapless Ricardo after 61 minutes to extend his side's unbeaten run to five matches.
Title outsiders Sevilla strengthened their claim for La Liga honours by beating Sporting Gijon 1-0, a win that lifts them behind Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Jeszs Navas crossed for Freddie Kanoute to notch the winning goal after just eight minutes, the Malian planting the ball past Juan Pablo.
Manolo JimĐšnez's side now trail leaders Barca by nine points with a game in hand.
Atletico scraped into the knock-out phase of the Champions League in midweek but their luck was out in the 2-1 defeat to Villarreal.
Jose Antonio Reyes fed Simao to open the scoring for Atletico. Villarreal pulled level in the second-half after good work from Joan Capdevila set-up up David Fuster to head home.
The away side snatched the points in the most dramatic fashion, Joseba Llorente coming off the bench to head past the despairing Sergio Asenjo in stoppage time.
Bottom-club Xerez shared five goals with Racing Santander but were on the wrong side of a 3-2 defeat at El Sardinero.
The visitors took the lead after three minutes through Mario Bermejo, the striker heading home from close range.
Mehdi Lacen restored parity for Racing and his side took the lead after the restart through half-time substitute Manuel Arana, who took just four minutes to make his mark.
Xerez continued to fight and they hauled themselves level with 20 minutes to go, Ramiro Antonito levelling things up with a shot from outside the area.
But with eight minutes to go the home side snatched a winner thanks to another substitute - this time Alex Geijo registering his first goal of the season.
High-flying Deportivo were expected to make light work of Almeria, yet they could only draw 1-1 against the strugglers.
And it was the home side who ripped up the form book to take the lead in the 58th minute as Kalu Uche found the top corner from Michel's centre.
Pablo Alvarez spared his side's blushes though, nodding past Diego Alvez from Juan Carlos Valersn's knock-down.
Malaga took the lead against Real Valladolid but could only manage a 1-1 draw. Duda curled into the top corner only for team mate Jeszs Gamez to gift Valladolid a leveller with an own-goal.
A brace from Juan Albin Leites helped Getafe secure a 2-1 triumph over Tenerife. The Uruguayan opened the scoring 38 minutes in with a close-range header, before putting his side in control an hour later with a second. Juanlu tapped in an 81st minute consolation for the visitors.
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