Barcelona opened up a two point gap at the top of the table with a narrow 1-0 win over Numancia at Camp Nou.

Frank Rijkaard’s outfit were contained by a dogged Numancia team for 70 minutes before Henrik Larsson produced the crucial winner for the home side.

The victory was marred by an injury to Edmilson which could keep the Brazilian out of action for six months.

The win take Barca two points clear of Valencia who were held to a 1-1 draw by Real Betis.

Sevilla climbed up to third after earning a goalless draw at Racing Santander

Meanwhile, Deportivo La Coruna, who have struggled this season, piled on the misery for Real Madrid with a 1-0 win in the Bernabeu.

Albert Luque’s goal in the first inflicted a third La Liga defeat on Real.

Michael Owen was given a rare start in attack in place of the injured Ronaldo, but he struggled to make an impact and was replaced by Fernando Morientes on 52 minutes.

Jose Molina performed heroics in goal for the vistors, pulling off a number of athletic saves to ensure a memorable win for Depor.

Elsewhere, Villarreal picked up their first win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Real Zaragoza. Recent signing, Diego Forlan, guaranteed the points with a strike early in the second half.

Albacete were another team to break their duck with a 1-0 victory over Espanyol.

Pablo Martinez Redondo grabbed the winner midway through the second half, but they were hanging on at the death after Sanchez David was sent off 13 minutes from time for violent conduct.

A Sergio Pachon hat-trick helped Getafe climb out of the bottom three with an 3-1 success over Athletic Bilbao.

Newly-promoted Levante continued their good start the season with a 2-0 win over Mallorca.

Vladimir Manchev put Levante ahead on 28 minutes and Garcia Sergio added a second six minutes later to ensure the points.