MADRID, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Even though they dropped two points at home to Valencia on Saturday evening in the Liga Santander, FC Barcelona extended their lead at the top of the league to six points over second place Atletico Madrid.
FC Barcelona had to fight back from 2-0 down at home to an impressive Valencia, but Leo Messi was again the Barca hero.
Kevin Gameiro opened the scoring after good work from Rodrigo Moreno, although Barca complained that the move began with a foul on Messi that referee Undiano Mallenco chose to ignore.
Dani Parejo doubled Valencia's lead from the penalty spot after Sergi Roberto had pushed Daniel Wass.
A Messi penalty got Barca back into the game before the break and he equalized on the hour with a shot from distance, but Valencia defended well in the last half hour.
What on Saturday looked to be two points dropped, on Sunday turned out to be a point gained when Atletico Madrid suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat away to Betis.
Betis had played 120 minutes of Cup football on Wednesday, but perhaps their qualification for the semifinals of the tournament which will celebrate the final in their Benito Villamarin Stadium gave them extra gas as they were able to beat a notoriously tough Atletico side.
Alvaro Morata made his debut for Atletico, but made little impact and the game was decided by a Sergio Canales penalty in the 65th minute.
Atletico hit the post through Antoine Griezmann shortly afterwards, but will be disappointed with dropping points in a game they will have expected to win.
Real Madrid moved to within eight points of the top of the table with a relatively straightforward 3-0 win at home to Alaves.
Karim Benzema opened the scoring with his 17th goal of the season thanks to a pass from Sergio Reguilon, who was again preferred to Marcelo by Santiago Solari.
Alaves never looked like getting back on level terms, but the game wasn't safe until the 80th minute when Vinicius Jr. scored from inside the area and Mariano Diaz rounded off the scoring in the last minute.
Okay Yokuslu's second half goal gave Celta a 1-0 win against Sevilla and ended a run of five successive defeats for the Galician side.
Eibar took a big step towards assuring their top-flight future with a 3-0 win at home to Girona, who in turn are sliding into a battle to avoid relegation.
Ruben Pena and two goals from Charles gave the Basques a win which lifts them to tenth in the table, just three points from a place in Europe.
Javier Calleja returned to the Villarreal dugout less than two months after being sacked by the club and saw how Vicente Iborra and Santi Cazorla put them 2-0 up at home to Espanyol.
A Bonera own goal gifted Espanyol a way back into the game and Roberto Rosales left foot shot saw the points shared just minutes after Chinese striker Wi Lei had entered the game to make his Espanyol debut.
Saturday kicked off with a 0-0 draw between Levante and Getafe, which moves Getafe up to fifth, while Real Sociedad took advantage of first half goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and Willian Jose (a contended for goal of the week) to beat Athletic Club 2-1 in the Basque derby.
Friday saw bottom side of the table Huesca claim only their 3rd win of the season as they beat Valladolid 4-0.
