Real Madrid keep pace at top with win over Getafe
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E-mail Xinhua, February 17, 2014
There was no change at the top of the BBVA Primera Liga on Sunday as Real Madrid beat Getafe on road to remain level on points with FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Kicking off a day after their rivals had both won easy home matches, Real Madrid, who were without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo again, wasted no time in taking the lead as the man of the moment, Jese Rodriguez scored a lovely curling shot from the edge of the Getafe penalty area.
Getafe are in crisis having failed to win since November, and Karim Benzema's 14th goal of the campaign doubled Madrid's lead after just 27 minutes.
Luka Mordic sealed the win with Real Madrid's third goal of the game in which Getafe looked unlikely to take anything from the first minute until the last.
On Saturday Barca had breezed past Rayo Vallecano 6-0 in a game they dominated from start to finish.
Leo Messi made a bit of history with two goals. His 227th and 228th in the Primera Liga, which took him above Alfredo Di Stefano and level with Raul Gonzalez in the all-time list of goalscorers in the Spanish League.
Messi also found time to set up Alexis Sanchez for Barca's third of the night and had a hand in Pedro Rodriguez's goal, which made it 4-0.
Adriano had opened the scoring after just a minute and after scoring the fifth of the game, Messi made way for Neymar, who celebrated his return from injury with a powerful shot from outside of the penalty area.
Atletico Madrid also played on Saturday and had few problems with struggling Valladolid. Raul Garcia and Diego Costa, a former Valladolid player, had put Atletico 2-0 up inside 5 minutes and Diego Godin's goal with 15 minutes remaining was the icing on the cake of an easy win.
Sunday saw Athletic Club Bilbao slip to a surprise home defeat to Espanyol, who took the points thanks to goals from Sergio Garcia and Diego Colotto, who had the fortune to score with his knee.
Carlos Gurpegui scored the goal for the home side, who are still four points clear in fourth place despite the defeat.
Sevilla saw Ivan Rakitic miss a penalty after 63 minutes as Valencia held on for a 0-0 draw in the Sanchez Pizjuan despite having Ricardo Costa sent off early in the second half.
While it was a good week for the three at the top, it was a disastrous weekend for the sides at the bottom with Rayo and Valladolid both losing, while bottom of the table Betis also lost 1-0 away to Granada, who move 6 points clear of the drop zone after Piti scored the only goal of the game.
In this context the 0-0 draw between Elche and Osasuna on Friday night can be seen as a good result for both sides, who edge a little closer towards safety.
The drama of the weekend came in Villarreal on Saturday night when the El Madrigal Stadium was evacuated after someone threw a teargas canister onto the pitch on 88 minutes of the home side's match against Celta Vigo .
The game was suspended for 25 minutes to allow the air to clear and the remaining minutes were played in front of virtually empty stands, allowing Celta to capitalize on the chaos to score their second goal of the night and take a surprise 2-0 win.
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