Monday, April 14 2008 -- There's sunshine and daylight at last in the top end of La Liga. The long stalled title elephant has barged forward, the amoeba has protruded itself and there's movement at long last. It was Week 32 in La Liga this weekend and there's been progress.

There is one teensy problem though. All the movement has been made by reigning Spanish champions Real Madrid who have stretched the lead to 9 points with just 6 more rounds of matches remaining this season. Bernd Schuster's side that took on second from bottom Real Murcia at the Bernabeu on Sunday was missing a few first team regulars but still beat Javier Clemente's heavily defensive side 1-0. The Merengues of course had to struggle in the opening quarter of the match as they lost right Miguel Torres to a direct red card in the 20th minute. But Wesley Sneijder's strike on the hour mark after imposing massive pressure on Murcia secured all 3 points and virtually the championship.

Because by that time archrivals FC Barcelona had already had their slim title hopes waned away into the dim distance. Frank Rijkaard's men played relegation battlers and fourth from bottom Recreativo de Huelva on Saturday night and in spite of twice taking the lead through Samuel Eto'o, had to return home with a 2-2 draw and a solitary goal after Marco Ruben equalized each time Barca galloped ahead. Yet Barcelona captain Carles Puyol refuses to admit La Liga title defeat while Eto'o is convinced that Barca can still catch champions elect Real Madrid.

The only other title pretenders left in the title chase as the season rapidly winds down to a curtain call are Villarreal but after their Week 32 fixture with Almeria they might as well settle for the second spot in the table. Villarreal are 10 points off the pace as the Yellow Submarine were sunk by a 84th minute Acasiete goal for Almeria who continued their impressive performance this season in La Liga playing constructive, close-in-on-the-opponents-as-soon-as-they-get-the-ball football. Villarreal had custodian Diego Lopez sent off for a straight red card in the 18th minute and that gifted the initiative to Almeria who now climb to 7th in the table.

While the title race is now pretty much settled, the battle for the fourth and final UEFA Champions League is stiffening up. Atletico Madrid, Racing Santander and Sevilla FC all shape up a competitive triumvirate for the prized European berth. Atletico, who've long looked to be the best bet to snatch the fourth Champions League place stumbled this weekend. Atleti had Maximilliano Rodriguez opening their account in the 68th minute at relegation battlers Valladolid but conceded a late Ogbeche goal to garner just a single point. This implies that Javier Aguirre's side have 54 points from 32 matches, same as Racing Santander who raced past Valencia (just as all sides seem to do these days) at the Mestalla on Sunday 2-1, thanks to goals from Colsa and Tchiki. Sevilla are just 3 points behind them on 51 after the Andalucians won a 5-goal thriller against gallant Real Mallorca.

At the foot of the table, there was a collector's item on exhibition at the Ruiz de Lopera where Real Betis were defeated 1-0 by---get this---Levante. Levante are rock bottom in the Spanish first division and like Murcia are virtually guaranteed of dropping down into the Segunda Division even before the season wraps up. But a Pedro Leon goal inspired the Valencian club to win against Betis who remain 13th in the table. Third from bottom Real Zaragoza employed a psychologist earlier in the week and that must have helped them as los Manus battled their way to a 0-0 draw away at Michael Laudrup's impressive Getafe. Monolo Villanova's side have 34 points, 3 fewer than Recre and 5 fewer than Valencia who are still locked in the relegation mire after losing their successive league fixture.

In other games in La Liga this weekend, Espanyol Barcelona's panache of parachuting down the ladder knew no bounds as they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to Osasuna at home to slip down to 8th in the table while increasingly impressive Deportivo la Coruna extended their remarkable recovery up the charts by beating Basque giants Athletic de Bilbao 3-0. Depor and Bilbao have 43 points each with Depor 9th and Bilbao 10th because of better head to head record.