Barcelona's Primera Liga title hopes have once again suffered a huge blow as they were held by their neighbors Espanyol in the Catalonia derby on Saturday. The Blaugrana's draw left them with 61 points, trailing Real Madrid by eight points. The titleholders have an opportunity to extend their lead to 11 points when they take on Racing Santander on Sunday Barcelona continued their dreary performances against a weak Espanyol side. Frank Rijkaard left Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta on the bench, but the duo was introduced in the second-half. Despite some efforts from Messi and Samuel Eto'o, Espanyol keeper Carlos Kameni kept his side in the game with a few fine saves. In other matches, Sevilla suffered a surprising 4-1 home defeat to Almeria while Real Zaragoza crushed Recreativo Huelva 3-0 and Real Betis cruised past Atletico Madrid with a 3-1 victory.
