Real Madrid drew 1-1 at their neighbours Getafe and stay third while Osasuna are one point and one place further back after a similar 1-1 draw with bottom club Malaga.

Goals from David Villa, Roberto Ayala, Mista Ferrer and Ruben Baraja put the 2004 champions ahead in the three-way race for an automatic place in next season's Champions League group stage with fourth now potentially being a cursed position.

If Champions League semifinalist Villarreal, who will not otherwise qualify for Europe's top club contest, win this season's competition then the team that finishes fourth in Spain will be relegated to the much less-lucrative UEFA Cup.

Valencia fans gave Espanyol, who won the Spanish Cup on Wednesday, a rousing welcome when they came onto the field and the visitors returned the friendly gesture by rarely threatening their hosts except with their wild tackling.

Moises Hurtado brought down Valencia's David Villa and the Spanish international striker had no problem getting his 19th goal of the season from the resulting penalty after 39 minutes.

Espanyol were reduced to 10 men on the hour when Eduardo Costa got two yellow cards within the space of a minute and shortly afterwards Ayala headed Valencia further ahead.

Mista headed Valencia's third goal after 69 minutes and Ruben Baraja completed the scoring spree with a left foot valley four minutes from time to leave Espanyol just one point above the relegation zone.

Real Madrid's Julio Baptista hit the post after just a few minutes against Getafe, a game played in an acrid atmosphere after a war of words between the two clubs in the last week, but the Brazilian found the net after 61 minutes.

However, television replays strongly suggested that the Brazilian had controlled the ball with his hand and Getafe got a deserved equaliser seven minutes from time when Manuel Tena connected with a Cosmin Contra free-kick.

"It was just bad luck and poor finishing that meant we didn't win," said Real coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro, although not everyone will have seen the game this way.

Osasuna took the lead through a Paco Punal's penalty after 30 mi

nutes but Malaga never threw in the towel despite their lowly position and got a point when their Uruguayan striker Chengue Morales found the net 10 minutes before the whistle, making the most of a defensive error by Cesar Cruchaga.

Last season's second division champions Cadiz have been in danger of going straight back down again since the start of 2006 but their hopes of staying up got a big boost with a 2-1 win at Real Zaragoza.

Celta Vigo moved up to fifth place with a 2-0 win at Real Betis thanks to goals from Jorge Larena and Jesus Perera.