Madrid, Nov 24: Barcelona stay in fourth despite their 1-2 defeat at Villarreal, which brought to an end the Catalans four game unbeaten streak, although they are likely to slip back several places after today's games.
Brazilian striker Sonny Anderson, who spent two miserable seasons at Barca between 1997 and 1999, got a modicum of revenge over his former club by getting the injury time winner from a diving header, after the ball was lofted into the box by his compatriot Belletti.
Villarreal deserved the three points after they attacked throughout the first half and finally broke through five minutes before the break when Fabricio Coloccini headed on a corner and the ball took a glancing blow off the head of Jose Mari Romero, who was credited with his first goal of the season.
However, the home side seemed content to sit on their one goal advantage for much of the second half and after 72 minutes they paid the price for trying to soak up Barcelona's pressure.
Former Barca goalkeeper Jose Manuel Reina could only parry away a effort from the edge of the box by Luis Garcia and the disgruntled dutch striker Patrick Kluivert, who was only starting due to an injury to Ronaldinho, pounced on the rebound for the equaliser.



The prospect of having to share the points seemed to reignite Villarreal's attacking instincts and in the remaining 20 minutes they pressed forward again, culminating in Anderson getting his fifth goal of the season.



Real Mallorca eased their relegation worries with a 1-0 win at Real Sociedad, handing the San Sebastian side their first home defeat in the league since March 2002.



Mallorca's decisve goal came after 18 minutes thanks to Samuel Eto'o, who grabbed his sixth of the season when he finished off a move initiated by Alejandro Campano and helped along by Fernando Correa's clever pass between two sleeping Sociedad defenders which then found the feet of Mallorca's prolific Cameroon international striker.


Bureau Report