Villa notched up a hattrick in the final nine minutes of Valencia's 3-0 win at Athletic Bilbao to avoid dropping points and giving Barca the chance to clinch their second successive title with a win at Sevilla later on Sunday.

However, a torrential downpour just before the start of Barca's game lead to a flooding at Sevilla's Sanchez Pizchuan stadium and the match was eventually postponed after three pitch inspections.

Villa and Miguel Angel Angulo both had good chances to put Valencia in front early in the game before Athletic's Ismael Urzaiz hit the post a minute before the break.

However, Villa finally broke the deadlock from close range after 81 minutes and Athletic's defence seemed to crumble as a result.

The Spanish international, who could be one of Spain's starting strikers at the World Cup, then found the net twice more in the following five minutes to take his tally for the season to 22 goals.

Sergio Ramos saved Real Madrid's blushes, and kept them in third place, with a headed goal in the dying seconds of their game against Malaga to get a scrappy 2-1 win over the bottom club.

Real had a Raul Gonzalez goal disallowed for offside early in the game but the Spanish giants were then rocked when Brazilian midfielder Bovio got his first goal for Malaga after 22 minutes.

A quick counter-attack left the Real defence stranded and Antonio Lopez provided a telling cross for an unmarked Bovio, signed from Santos during the mid-season transfer window, to finish off.

Real's equaliser came from the penalty spot after 68 minutes, with Zinedine Zidane scoring after Malaga's Portuguese defender Litos had brought down Raul.

Sergio Ramos' late winner wasn't enough to stop the Santiago Bernabeu crowd howling their disapproval at Real's performance as they marched off the field.

Antonio Cassano, replacing Ronaldo as the main Real striker, was a particular target for the crowd's brickbats.

Osasuna stay fourth after an unconvincing 1-0 at relegation-threatened Real Mallorca.

Ludovic Delporte got the only goal of the game three minutes into injury time by going nearly 70 metres with the ball before scoring.

Deportivo La Coruna are still in the hunt for a place in the UEFA Cup but were held to a 1-1 draw at Cadiz, who stay second from bottom.

Iago Iglesias hammered home a Victor Sanchez corner to put Deportivo in the lead after just eight minutes but Cadiz salvaged a point with a Lucas Lobos goal seven minutes from time.

Spanish Cup winners Espanyol eased their own relegation worries with a 2-0 win over Real Betis.

Espanyol's goals came from Daniel Jarque and Raul Tamudo, the latter also having two penalties saved.

Racing Santander remain in trouble after losing 3-1 at home to Getafe, two of the visitors goals coming from the former Real Madrid reserve Riki Sanchez.

Santander coach Manolo Preciado later resigned, becoming the 10th Spanish first division coaching casualty this season.