Barcelona down as Real Madrid seek larger lead
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E-mail Xinhua, February 12, 2012
FC Barcelona virtually waved goodbye to their chances of winning the BBVA Primera Liga as they crashed to a 3-2 defeat away to Osasuna on Saturday night.
Although the result was only the Catalans' second defeat of the season, it means that Real Madrid could move 10 points clear at the top of the table should they beat Levante on Sunday night.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola rested international trip Cersc Fabrigas, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta and saw how Osasuna controlled the game in the first half, opening up a 2-0 lead through Dejan Lekic.
The introduction of Cristian Tello and Isaac Cuenca saw Barca pull a goal back early in the second half through Alexis Sanchez, but Raul Garcia made it 3-1 soon afterwards.
Tello added a second for Barca, who had a goal ruled out for offside in a frantic closing period, but despite working to the end Guardiola's men were unable to break down a stubborn home defense.
Betis took a valuable three points with a dramatic 2-1 win at home to Athletic Club Bilbao.- Full back Nelson Tomar scored the winning goal in injury time after an end to end match in which Athletic paid the price for their Copa del Rey exploits in midweek.
The Basque side have played 12 games since the turn of the year and visibly tired as the game progressed. After defender Javi Martinez was sent off for a second yellow card midway thought the second half, there was only going to be one winner.
Betis opened the scoring after 10 minutes with a curling shot from Ruben Castro, while Javi Martinez headed home from a corner after 23 minutes to level the scores in what was a very open game.
The weekend kicked off with a 0-0 draw against Racing Santander and Atletico Madrid. Although Atletico managed their sixth game without defeat since the arrival of Diego Simeone as coach, they will be disappointed to have only taken a point from a match they dominated from start to finish.
Racing Santander keeper Tono was the hero of the match with a string of fine saves, but Atletico were guilty of missing a string of chances to take all three points.
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