Madrid: Giuseppe Rossi scored a penalty deep into injury time as 10-man Villarreal salvaged a 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijon on Sunday to stay in touch with Spanish leader Real Madrid.
Carlos Marchena was tugged down inside the Sporting area for the Italy striker to step up and slot his sixth goal of the season past Juan Pablo Colinas in the 94th minute.
Gonzalo Rodriguez handled inside the area to set up Sporting's opener as Diego Castro scored with a 69th-minute penalty. Gonzalo was then sent off in the 77th after receiving a second yellow card for obstructing David Barral's run to further complicate the game for the visitors.
But the "Yellow Submarine" managed to pull out a point at El Molinon stadium to stay with the favorites.
"We are happy with the draw," Cazorla said. "Above all with how the game ended with us playing with one man less."
Madrid beat Hercules 3-1 on Saturday to stay top with 23 points, while Barcelona trails by one point after routing Sevilla 5-0. Villarreal is alone in third with 20 points.
Atletico Madrid languish nine points adrift of its Spanish capital neighbor — one week before they meet in a derby match — following a 1-1 draw against Almeria.
At the Vicente Calderon stadium, only several outstanding saves by Almeria goalkeeper Diego Alves kept Atletico from going ahead early.
But Sergio Aguero darted into the area to blast home his first league goal of the season in the 33rd after the Brazilian 'keeper pushed Jose Antonio Reyes' header along the goalline.
The opener sparked Almeria into life as Kalu Uche drew three diving saves from David De Gea before Pablo Piatti's left-footed volley from the edge of the area beat the teenage goalkeeper as the first half closed.
Also on Sunday, Deportivo La Coruna picked up its first win of the season in a 3-0 win over Espanyol, while Swedish pair Kennedy Bakircioglu and Markus Rosenberg led Racing Santander to a 4-1 win over Osasuna.
Malaga remained winless at its La Rosaleda stadium after losing to Real Sociedad 2-1 and Athletic Bilbao ran out 3-0 winners over Getafe.
Deportivo's Adrian Lopez converted Diego Colotto's flick-on in the 28th to open the scoring at El Riazor stadium.
Alberto Lopo made it 2-0 in the 76th after controlling from Colotto to fire past 'keeper Cristian Alvarez. Colotto finally got on the scoreboard himself in the 87th for Deportivo to join Malaga on seven points.
"Now we remember what it is like to win," said Deportivo coach Miguel Angel Lotina, whose team won for the first time in 24 games in all competitions. "We will lose and win, but now the team is competitive."
At Malaga, Antoine Griezmann picked up a pass from Joseba Llorente to fire a low shot past goalkeeper Francesc Arnau to put Sociedad ahead two minutes before the break.
Llorente headed home the second in the 55th before Juan Miguel Jimenez pulled one back for the home side in the 77th after Claudio Bravo had saved Antonio "Apono" Galdeano's penalty.
But Malaga is now winless in six games.
At the San Mames stadium, Athletic Bilbao's Andoni Iraiola smacked a bouncing ball from 10 yards outside the area that took a slight deflection to scream past goalkeeper Jordi Codina in the sixth minute.
Mikel San Jose ripped a 12th-minute penalty past Codina after Rafael Lopez was ajudged to have brought down Iker Muniain.
The Basque club showed it didn't need to rely only on striker Fernando Llorente's boot as Igor Gabilondo scored his fourth of the season in the 83rd for Bilbao to jump to 13 points.
Santander rebounded from last week's 6-1 drubbing by Madrid with a convincing victory started by Bakircioglu, who beat 'keeper Ricardo Lopez with a free kick in the 27th minute.
Rosenberg added the second seven minutes later with a shot from outside the area before Javad Nekounam scored Osasuna's first away goal of the season with a penalty in the 59th, after Marc Torrejon had handled.
But Santander extended its lead again three minutes later as Rosenberg was well-placed at the far post to convert a corner kick. Torrejon capped the win in the 85th.
Getafe played Athletic Bilbao in Sunday's late game. Levante plays Mallorca on Monday.
Valencia, which is fourth with 17 points, drew 1-1 with Zaragoza on Saturday.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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