Athletic Bilbao ended the year afloat, despite Real Valladolid’s last-gasp equaliser in La Liga Week 17, while Alaves returned to winning ways.
Girona avoided a third straight defeat after they salvaged a 1-1 draw with Getafe on Friday.
Angel Rodriguez broke the deadlock for Getafe, whose unbeaten run was extended to six games in all competitions, although Bernardo Espinosa levelled things up with just five minutes remaining.
Alaves halted a run of five games without a win to beat Basque rivals Real Sociedad 1-0.
Jonathan Calleri’s first goal for two months let Alaves leapfrog Real Betis into fifth and condemned La Real to a fourth consecutive defeat.
Betis, for their part, could only draw 1-1 with Eibar on Saturday, although the visitors deserved more from the match.
Antonio Sanabria opened his League account for the season with one of the Andalusians’ two attempts on target, but Eibar had six – one of which saw Fabian Orellana convert a penalty.
Athletic moved out of the relegation zone but were ultimately held one apiece by Valladolid.
Aritz Aduriz needed just a one-step run-up to bury a spot-kick that went viral, yet Oscar Plano struck in the second minute of stoppage time for a share of the spoils.
| GOAL! |
How about this penalty from Aritz Aduriz?!
A one-step run up was all he needed to put Athletic Bilbao in front… pic.twitter.com/TrhDZo3UEu
— Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) December 22, 2018
Finally, Rayo Vallecano made it two victories from four games after they defeated Levante 2-1 on Sunday.
Tono Garcia’s own goal and a Raul de Tomas finish cancelled out Ruben Rochina’s reply on the hour mark as Rayo cut their deficit on the sides in safety to three points.
