Barcelona held as Madrid move 7 points clear

Barcelona dropped precious points in a 0-0 draw at Villarreal on Saturday night to slip seven points behind Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Earlier Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil had scored to help Real Madrid beat Zaragoza 3-1 and pile the pressure on Barca, who never convinced against a well organised Villarreal.

In a tight match with both teams relying on their passing games to create space, goal opportunities were rare and what Barca did create was stopped by an inspired Diego Lopez in the home team's goal.

The first chance came on three minutes when Dani Alves found himself clear with just Lopez to beat at close range, but the Villarreal goalkeeper stood tall and blocked the Brazilian's weak shot. Five minutes later Villarreal conjured up some quick passing that produced an opening for Ruben Gracia 'Cani' who produced a good save from Victor Valdes.

Spanish Liga 2011/12

		Clubs		P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1		Real Madrid CF		20	17	1	2	70	19	51	52
2		FC Barcelona		20	13	6	1	59	12	47	45
3		Valencia CF		19	10	5	4	29	20	9	35
4		Levante UD		19	9	4	6	25	22	3	31
5		RCD Espanyol		20	9	4	7	22	21	1	31
6		Athletic Club		20	7	8	5	30	25	5	29
7		CA Osasuna		19	6	9	4	22	31	-9	27
8		Club Atlético de Madrid		19	7	5	7	30	27	3	26
9		Sevilla FC		19	6	8	5	20	20	0	26
10		Málaga CF		19	7	4	8	22	28	-6	25
11		Getafe CF		19	6	6	7	20	25	-5	24
12		Real Betis Balompié		19	7	2	10	22	27	-5	23
13		Rayo Vallecano de Madrid		20	6	4	10	23	31	-8	22
14		RCD Mallorca		20	5	7	8	17	25	-8	22
15		Real Sociedad de Fútbol		19	5	6	8	17	27	-10	21
16		Real Racing Club		19	4	8	7	15	23	-8	20
17		Villarreal CF		20	4	8	8	18	28	-10	20
18		Granada CF		19	5	4	10	12	26	-14	19
19		Real Sporting de Gijón		19	5	3	11	18	33	-15	18
20		Real Zaragoza		20	2	6	12	15	36	-21	12

ORIGINAL SOURCE
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