Villarreal lose ground after draw

MADRID, Spain -- Villarreal, lying third in the Spanish Primera Liga, failed to make up ground on second-placed Barcelona when they were held to a goalless draw at home to Racing Santander on Sunday.

They had long periods of domination but their wastefulness was exemplified by a 49th minute penalty miss by striker Giuseppe Rossi.

Villarreal now trail Barca by eight points on 43 and the Catalans are still five behind leaders Real Madrid.

Atletico Madrid missed an opportunity to climb up to third when they went down 2-1 at home to Athletic Bilbao.

Atletico began well, Antonio Lopez giving them a fifth minute lead with a low cross shot.

Bilbao, needing points to pull away from the relegation zone, drew level after 39 minutes when Javi Martinez sprinted out of defense and fed Markel Susaeta, who scored.

In first-half stoppage time Fernando Llorente deflected in Francisco Yeste's free kick to put Bilbao ahead.

Seven minutes after the resumption Atletico were down to 10 men when Raul Garcia collected a second yellow card for a late challenge on Yeste.

Bottom club Levante claimed their fourth win of the season when they came from behind to defeat Osasuna 2-1, but they are still seven points adrift of the rest.

Racing's draw at Villarreal enabled Almeria to climb above them to seventh by extending their unbeaten run to seven matches with a 1-0 win over struggling Real Murcia.

Uruguayan defender Martin Caceres headed an 88th minute winner for Recreativo Huelva, who came from a goal down to beat Deportivo Coruna 3-2 .

Real saw their advantage trimmed on Saturday when they lost 2-1 at Real Betis while Barcelona beat Real Zaragoza 2-1. E-mail to a friend