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In the 17th round of the Spanish league - the championship leader "Barcelona" solidified their position before the winter break by increasing their advantage over the closest pursuers to ten points.
"Barca" had to fight hard for their 13th season victory in a match against "Levante", and the Catalans' win was determined by the league's top scorer Samuel Eto'o's goal three minutes before the end of the match.
In the battle for the second victory, defending champion and title holders "Valencia" celebrated with a 3-0 victory over Barcelona's "Espanyol", who played the second half with nine men. Meanwhile, "Sevilla" climbed to the third position by narrowly defeating local rival "Real" in Madrid and pushing them down to fifth place.
In the pursuit group of the leaders, Seville's "Betis" remains after defeating Madrid's "Atletico" at home, and "Osasuna" easily defeated league's bottom "Numancia" team. Deportivo from La Coruna suffered their second consecutive defeat, this time at home against "Zaragoza".
The most impressive victories in the round were achieved by "Mallorca", who trounced Bilbao's "Athletic" 4-0, and "Real Sociedad" who won against "Malaga" with the same margin away. In other matches, "Albacete" achieved a draw against "Villarreal" and leveled points with Santander's "Racing", who lost 2-0 to "Getafe".
Table standings
Round 17 statistics:
2 - 1 29` [1 - 0] Jose Alexis (own goal) 59` [1 - 1] Mateu Jofre 87` [2 - 1] Samuel Eto'o
1 - 0 7` [1 - 0] Sanchez Joaquin
2 - 2 15` [1 - 0] Antonio Pacheco 32` [1 - 1] Diego Forlan 35` [1 - 2] Antonio Guayre 86` [2 - 2] Antonio Pacheco
77' Rodolfo Arruabarrena ("Villarreal") sent off
4 - 0 6` [1 - 0] Francisco Yeste 10` [2 - 0] Santiago Ezquerro 77` [3 - 0] Carlos Gurpegi 90` [4 - 0] Francisco Yeste (pen.)
89' Hipolito Poli ("Mallorca") sent off
2 - 3 35` [0 - 1] Ruben Cani 49` [1 - 1] Pablo Amo 51` [2 - 1] Albert Luque 56` [2 - 2] Gabriel Milito 68` [2 - 3] David Villa
86' Lionel Scaloni ("Deportivo") sent off
2 - 0 5` [1 - 0] Ivan Riki 32` [2 - 0] Ivan Riki
1 - 5 11` [0 - 1] Darko Kovacevic 42` [1 - 1] Vicente Valcarce 52` [1 - 2] Darko Kovacevic 60` [1 - 3] Mikel Labaka 70` [1 - 4] Nihat Kahveci 82` [1 - 5] Nihat Kahveci
79' Garcia Gerardo ("Malaga") sent off
2 - 0 49` [1 - 0] Richard Morales 68` [2 - 0] Richard Morales
3 - 0 12` [1 - 0] Ruben Baraja 82` [2 - 0] Mista 87` [3 - 0] Mista
41' Raul Tamudo, 45' Oscar Serrano (both "Espanyol") sent off
0 - 1 19` [0 - 1] Julio Baptista
