Madrid establish six-point cushion over Barcelona

FC Barcelona are six points behind Liga leaders Real Madrid CF after suffering their first defeat in 28 games in all competitions, 1-0 against Getafe CF. The Azulgrana's fierce rivals had earlier defeated Club Atlético de Madrid, who had Thibaut Courtois and Diego Godín dismissed, 4-1.

In a game of few chances at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, Juan Valera headed the winner for Getafe from Cata Díaz's corner midway through the second half. Lionel Messi struck a post with one of the last kicks of the game as Josep Guardiola's men piled on the pressure.

Madrid, meanwhile, started the capital derby having won their last 12 matches in all competitions, but it appeared that number 13 may prove unlucky when Adrián López gave the visitors the lead after exchanging passes with Diego.

The game-changing moment came on 24 minutes, Courtois tripping Karim Benzema as striker attempted to round goalkeeper, and Cristiano Ronaldo struck the resulting penalty past replacement custodian Sergio Asenjo.

Ángel Di María made it 2-1 from a Ronaldo cut-back, with substitute Gonzalo Higuaín punishing hesitancy from Godín to make it three. Godín was then dismissed for hauling down Higuaín, allowing Ronaldo to nonchalantly convert his second spot kick of the match. Valencia CF consolidated third spot by winning 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano de Madrid.