Real prevail as Casillas sees red
Casillas was shown a straight red card for a supposed foul on Jose Callejon just outside the box after less than 90 seconds, but the Espanyol forward went to ground far too easily after minimal contact with the Spain keeper.
The dismissal produced an immediate reshuffle from Real coach Jose Mourinho, who sent on reserve keeper Adan and hauled off Argentina winger Angel di Maria.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Madrid looked the more dangerous and Marcelo got what proved to be the winner midway through the first half when he drilled home from a tight angle.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola had no complaints after his side’s 16-match winning run in the Primera Division was ended with a 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijon on Saturday night.
Relegation-threatened Sporting took the lead against Barca — who face Arsenal on Wednesday night — through a fine David Barral effort after 16 minutes, and looked as if they may hold on for a shock victory until David Villa’s sublime chip against his former club rescued a point for the champions.
Guardiola said: “When a run like that comes to an end you value it even more, because we have won at grounds like this. We should have to play in more places like this where the team plays for their lives. It’s terribly tough to have to compete with them. We’re not unbeatable.
“I have no complaints. We go all around Spain showing people who we are and that is already enough.”
Joaquin Sanchez scored both goals as Valencia — who face Schalke this week — hit back from going a goal down early on to defeat Atletico Madrid 2-1, whose miserable start to 2011 shows no sign of abating.
Atletico gained an early advantage when Jose Antonio Reyes put them ahead after just three minutes.
However, the Rojiblancos could not keep hold of the lead and Valencia drew level just before the break through Joaquin.
Diego Forlan then missed a penalty for Atletico at the start of the second half before Valencia claimed all three points when captain Joaquin netted their winner four minutes from time. Villarreal were unable to reclaim third place off Valencia last night after slumping to another surprise defeat, this time at the hands of struggling Deportivo La Coruna.
A week after seeing their unbeaten home record ended by relegation-threatened Levante, Villarreal suffered another 1-0 loss after going down to a Depor side who had lost six of their last seven league and cup games.
Alberto Lopo scored the only goal of the game in the 60th minute as Villarreal, who dropped to fourth place following Valencia’s win on Saturday, lost only their sixth match of the season.
Veteran striker Raul Tamudo got the only goal of the game as Real Sociedad boosted their hopes of European qualification by beating struggling Osasuna at Estadio Anoeta. Malaga drew 2-2 with Getafe while Levante beat Almeria 1-0.
David Trezeguet grabbed a last-minute winner as Hercules beat Zaragoza 2-1.
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