Foreign round-up: Barcelona extend lead after Real Madrid held

Real Madrid squandered two crucial points in their title battle with Barcelona when they had to come from behind to secure a 1-1 draw at La Liga's bottom side Almeria last night.

The shock result against the team with the league's worst home record opened the way for champions Barca to extend their lead at the top to four points in the evening kick-off by beating Malaga 4-1.

Valencia stayed hot on the heels of third-placed Villarreal when Jeremy Mathieu and Pablo Hernandez scored in a 2-0 home win over Deportivo Coruna.

Villarreal are third on 39 points thanks to their 4-2 home win over Osasuna on Saturday.

La Liga top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo failed to convert several clear chances for Real before the home side grabbed a surprise lead on the hour. The ball broke to Jose Leonardo Ulloa, and the Argentine striker swept it past Iker Casillas. Substitute Esteban Granero smashed in the equaliser with around 15 minutes left and Ronaldo thundered a free kick against the bar in added time but Almeria held firm for a point.

Goals from Andres Iniesta, David Villa (2) and Pedro gave Barcelona an easy win against opponents who provided only a goal by Duda in reply.

Late winners from Lazio, Juv-entus and AS Roma kept the fortunate trio on the tail of Serie A leaders AC Milan, who were held 1-1 at Lecce last night.

Lazio moved up to joint-second thanks to substitute Libor Kozak's suspiciously offside header six minutes from time in a 1-0 home win over Sampdoria.

Fourth-placed Roma's 89th minute goal in the 1-0 win at Cesena could have been chalked off too, with Adriano appearing offside before the winner went in off Maximiliano Pellegrino.

Alberto Aquilani's volley 11 minutes from the end deflected in off team-mate Giorgio Chiellini to wrongfoot the goalkeeper and give fifth-placed Juventus a 2-1 win over bottom side Bari.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave a nervy Milan the lead at Lecce, but the home side's Ruben Olivera levelled for a deserved point.

Hannover climbed to second place in the Bundesliga after a 3-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.