Raul Gonzalez and Arjen Robben scored as Real Madrid beat Valladolid 2-0 on Sunday to stay six points behind Spanish leader Barcelona. Raul struck his 15th of the season in the 44th minute before Robben scored on a quick counterattack in the 82nd from Jose Maria "Guti" Gutierrez's long pass.
Real Madrid's Raul Gonzalez (front) breaks through the defense of Real Valladolid during the Spanish La Liga soccer match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Sunday, April 12, 2009.
Madrid barely threatened the Valladolid goal despite the return of Robben from injury and strikers Raul, Higuain and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar all in the lineup. "It's easier to win when you're playing well than badly but there are still times when you don't play well. This was one of those times," said coach Juande Ramos. "The priority is the points. In our situation, there is no margin for error."
Madrid has 69 points while Barcelona has 75 after beating bottom-of-the-table Recreativo Huelva on Saturday to warm up for Tuesday's Champions League quarterfinal match at Bayern Munich where the Catalans will play with a 4-0 first-leg advantage.
Juanma Mata beat goalkeeper Inaki Lafuente in the 88th as Valencia won 3-2 against Sporting Gijon to overtake Villarreal for fourth in the table, the final Champions League qualifying place.
David Silva evaded several Sporting players before shooting through a crowd and under Lafuente in the 19th to open the scoring for Valencia before David Barral equalized from the spot in the 36th.
David Villa, whose career began at Sporting, scored his 22nd goal of the season with a penalty in the 56th, but Mate Billic took advantage of slack defending in the 71st to head home before Mata's ninth strike of the season condemned Sporting to its league-high 19th defeat.
Valencia has 49 points, Villarreal 48 and Atletico Madrid joined Malaga at 46 after Sergio Aguero and Simao Sabrosa netted in a 2-1 victory at Deportivo La Coruna.
Jaime Gavilan's 82nd-minute score allowed Getafe to snap a five-game losing streak and pick up a 1-0 victory at Sevilla.
Sevilla stayed third with 57 points.