World Soccer

Manu Fernandez (AP)

Barcelona put a troubled few days behind them with a laboured 3-0 home win over lowly Recreativo Huelva, Saturday.

Edmilson’s criticisms of the lack of commitment of some of his team mates had dominated headlines before the game, and it was far from the reaction coach Frank Rijkaard had hoped for early on.

But goals two minutes apart from Argentina’s Gabriel Milito and Bojan Krkic midway through the second half broke Recre’s resistance. Lionel Messi added a penalty to round it off near the end.

They went third-place on 27 points, two point behind Real Madrid.

Leader Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw away to promoted Real Murcia.

Villarreal, who missed the chance to knock Madrid off the top of the Spanish championship following a 1-1 draw with Almeria, sit second place on 28 point.

Espanyol are another surprise team this season and a 2-1 win at Osasuna on Sunday saw them jump to fourth. Espanyol are now only two points behind their Catalan rivals Barcelona.

Elsewhere Atletico Madrid won a thrilling encounter with Valladolid 4-3 that underlined their attacking prowess but exposed their defensive frailities.

Source | Photo source | Reports | Fixtures | Standing

Result on Sunday (25/11): Villarreal 1 (Nihat 13) Almeria 1 (Negredo 52)

Atletico Madrid 4 (Maniche 3, Maxi Rodriguez 49, 56, Lopez 90-og) Valladolid 3 (Victor 40, Sisi 48, Llorente 54)

Levante 4 (Tommasi 38, Riga 40, 49, Javi Fuego 80) Real Betis 3 (Arzu 8, Edu 24-pen, Pavone 51)

Osasuna 1 (Portillo 74) Espanyol 2 (Angel 29, Valdo 32)

Athletic Bilbao 2 (Barragan 22-og, David Lopez 53) Deportivo La Coruna 2 (Riki 62, Taborda 89)

Racing Santander 1 (Lopez 70) Valencia 0

Real Zaragoza 1 (D’Alessandro 80) Getafe 1 (Sousa 64)

Saturday (24/11): Sevilla 1 (Kanoute 49) Real Mallorca 2 (Ibagaza 16, Varela 37)

Barcelona 3 (Milito 63, Bojan 65, Messi 81) Recreativo Huelva 0

Murcia 1 (De Lucas 48) Real Madrid 1 (Robinho 8)

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