Soccer:Barcelona survived a dramatic Sevilla fightback to win 3-2 and keep their Primera Division title defence in their own hands.
With Real Madrid 5-1 victors at home to Athletic Bilbao with one round of matches to go next weekend, Barca could not win La Liga in Seville on Saturday but did maintain their one-point lead and kept their destiny in their own hands with the visit of Real Valladolid to come while Madrid go to Malaga.
Lionel Messi gave Barca the lead after five minutes and Bojan Krkic doubled the Catalans' lead just short of the half hour.
Sevilla then went down to 10 men following Abdoulay Konko's dismissal 10 minutes into the second period and Barca looked to be out of sight after Pedro struck a third shortly afterwards.
But Pep Guardiola's side were forced to endure a nervous finale as Sevilla fought back with goals from Frederic Kanoute and Luis Fabiano midway through the second half.
Barca held on, though, and after Real won 5-1 at home to Bilbao, the title goes down to the wire.
At the Bernabeu, Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute in an incident that also saw Athletic defender Fernando Amorebieta sent off.
Athletic captain Fran Yeste threatened to ruin Madrid's night when he scored a brilliant equaliser just before half-time, but four goals in the final 17 minutes from Higuain, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Marcelo earned the home side their 18th win in their last 19 league games.
The Madrid faithful were glued to their radios hoping for a Sevilla equaliser but it did not come, leaving Barca in the driving seat next week.
It will be even tighter at the bottom with Malaga, Racing Santander, Real Valladolid and Tenerife all on 36 points with bottom-placed Xerez on 33.
Malaga lost 2-1 with barely a whimper at Getafe on Saturday night.
The Andalucians barely put up a fight as the Madrid clubs strolled to victory with goals by Roberto Soldado and Pedro Leon rendering Fernando's late header a mere consolation.
Valladolid live to fight another day after goals from Javier Baraja and Viera Nauzet Aleman saw them come from behind to beat Santander 2-1 and move level on points with their opponents.
Racing had taken a first-half lead through Fernandez Christian's header before the hosts levelled 12 minutes into the second half through Baraja and Aleman kept his nerve to convert a penalty 13 minutes from time.
Francisco Nino netted a stoppage-time equaliser as Tenerife kept their slim survival hopes alive with a 2-2 draw at home to Almeria.
Marc Bertran fired Tenerife in front after 15 minutes, but the visitors equalised within three minutes through Pablo Piatti.
Albert Crusat appeared to have won it for Almeria with the visitors' second after 82 minutes, but Nino popped up with the leveller in the third minute of stoppage time.
Xerez kept alive their brave bid to avoid relegation after edging out Real Zaragoza, who are now safe from the drop despite this loss.
The home side held a half-time lead thanks to Francis Perez's 23rd-minute goal, and although Zaragoza equalised in the 67th minute through Ander Herrera, Xerez restored their advantage almost immediately when Michel netted.
Carlos Calvo made it 3-1 five minutes later, and even though Zaragoza quickly reduced the deficit when Gabi netted it was not enough to save the visitors, who finished the game with 10 men when Matteo Contini was sent off for a second booking late on.
Sporting Gijon secured their top flight status with a 1-1 draw earned against a second-string Atletico Madrid side.
The home side went ahead through Miguel De Las Cuevas but Atletico were able to salvage a point from the match when they equalised after 75 minutes through Ibrahima Balde.
In the Champions League fight, Mallorca missed the chance to capitalise on Sevilla's defeat as they lost 1-0 at out-of-form Deportivo La Coruna.
Riki hit the only goal of the game after 69 minutes to leave Gregorio Manzano's side still fifth, a point off fourth-placed Sevilla.
Villarreal kept alive their European ambitions with a comfortable 2-0 derby win against Valencia.
The Yellow Submarine, who had striker Joseba Llorente sent off in the second half, were already coasting after he had added a second to Giuseppe Rossi's opener.
Espanyol beat Osasuna 2-1 in a match featuring two sides enjoying mid-table comfort. Juan Forlin and Pablo Osvaldo secured the win after Krisztian Vadocz's sixth-minute opener for the Navarrans.