Real Betis Balompié lifted themselves to fourth in the Liga standings thanks to a 3-2 success at second-bottom RC Deportivo La Coruña, after the game between Granada CF and RCD Espanyol ended goalless.

Starting the day in fifth, Betis set about leapfrogging Málaga CF when Castro Rubén fired them ahead six minutes before the break. The 31-year-old then doubled his tally ten minutes after the restart, but the visitors were back on level terms just six minutes later when Riki weighed in with a quick pair of goals. Betis were not to be denied, though, and clinched victory courtesy of Joel Campbell's 76th-minute winner.

The result meant that Deportivo slipped a place in the table, with Granada moving up to 18th following their 0-0 stalemate with bottom club Espanyol. As for Levante UD, they missed the chance to go fifth in a 1-1 draw at RC Celta de Vigo, but they were pleased to come away with a point courtesy of Roger Martí Salvador's late strike from close range. The substitute's 89th-minute effort cancelled out De Lucas's neat finish before the break, with the draw leaving Celta 14th with 15 points. 

Real Zaragoza played with ten men for 77 minutes and almost claimed an unlikely victory at RCD Mallorca. Glenn Loovens was dismissed after 13 minutes and gave away a penalty in the process to compound an awful start for the visitors, but Roberto promptly denied Victor Casadesus from the spot. Minutes later, Hélder Postiga turned in from close range at the other end – and that looked set to be the winning strike until Casadesus made up for his earlier miss five minutes from time to keep Mallorca a point above the bottom three.