Leo Messi scored his 77th and 78th goals of 2012 as Barcelona saw off a combative Zaragoza 3-1. Alex Song also scored for Barca after Paco Montanes had leveled Messi's opener for Barcelona.

Real Madrid responded with a 5-1 win at home to an Athletic Club Bilbao side affected by injuries and suspensions. Jon Autenetxe put through his own goal to open the scoring before Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema made it 3-0 before the break.

Ibai Gomez pulled a goal back for Athletic, who were then denied a clear penalty after handball by Fabio Coentrao, before further goals from Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira rounded off the night for Madrid.

Atletico Madrid also kept up the pace as an Arda Turan goal after 61 minutes gave them a 1-0 win in Granada.

Atletico were reduced to 10 men after Mario Suarez was sent off for two yellow cards, but hung on to stay second in the table, three points behind Barca.

There was tension ahead of the Seville derby on Sunday night with two policemen injured and almost 30 arrests after clashes between fans from Sevilla and Betis.

Betis travelled to their rivals home ground fourth in the table, but were blown away in the first half as Jose Antonio Reyes and Federico Fazio scored two goals each before halftime.

Ruben Perez was sent off for Betis 17 minutes into the second half, before Castro pulled a goal back for the visitors, but Ivan Rakitic's late strike made the final score a humiliating 5-1 in Sevilla's favor.

Deportivo La Coruna slipped deeper into trouble as the result of another rock solid display by Levante, who remain battling for a place in Europe thanks to a 2-0 win in Deportivo's Riazor Stadium.

Obi Martins and Jose Barkero scored Levante's goals, although Levante's task was made easier when Deportivo midfielder Alejandro Bergantinos was forced to replace Dani Aranzubia in goal after Aranzubia was sent off with eight minutes left.

Mallorca ended a six game losing streak with a 1-1 draw away to Celta Vigo. The game saw Tomer Hemed put Mallorca ahead in the first half before Park Chu Young equalized for the home team in the second half.

Getafe came back from a goal down to defeat Valladolid 2-0 thanks to goals from Alexis Ruano and Angel Lafita, who scored the home side's goals in the last 17 minutes.

The weekend kicked off on Saturday with bottom of the table Osasuna drawing 0-0 at home to Malaga, who have taken just one point from their last three matches and who had goalkeeper Willy Caballero to thank for a series of saves which stopped them slipping to a third successive league defeat.

Referee De Cerro Grande was the protagonist in the game between Valencia and Espanyol after showing a total of 11 yellow cards and two direct red cards, both of which went to Espanyol players, Hector Moreno and Sergio Garcia.

The game had looked to be heading for a 1-1 draw after Samuel Longo had cancelled out Jonathan Valle's opener for Valencia, but in the last minute De Cerro Grande gave Valencia a penalty for handball for Moreno, who was sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity with Garcia following him down the tunnel for his protests.

Roberto Soldado stepped up and ensured Valencia took all three points while Espanyol drop to bottom of the table.