SPANISH PRIMERA LIGA:BARCELONA WERE held to a 2-2 draw at promoted Almeria in the Primera Liga yesterday as they failed to make the most of leaders Real Madrid's 1-0 defeat away to Deportivo Coruna on Saturday.
Bojan Krkic and Samuel Eto'o put Barca on course to cut Real's lead to five points, but after they had Gabriel Milito sent off late on, Almeria grabbed an 85th-minute equaliser through Kalu Uche.
Real have 62 points, seven ahead of second-placed Barcelona on 55, while Villarreal climbed to 53 after they saw off Real Zaragoza 2-0 at home.
Almeria made life tough for Barcelona crowding the midfield and breaking quickly at every opportunity, so it was against the run of play when Andres Iniesta's shot was only parried as far as Krkic to score in the 17th minute.
However, the set-piece specialists were soon level from a corner in the 33rd when defender Ruben Pulido was left with a free header at the near post.
Frank Rijkaard brought on Thierry Henry just after the restart and, with one of his first interventions, he cut to the line to pull back for Cameroon striker Eto'o to net.
Argentina centre back Milito collected his second yellow card with 18 minutes to go, and Almeria punished Barca again from a corner as Nigerian Uche rose to head past Victor Valdes with five minutes remaining.
Barca have taken one point from the last nine available.
Following a dire first half with few goalscoring opportunities for either side, Pepe's own-goal on 57 minutes gave Deportivo a shock lead over Real Madrid on Saturday and the visitors were unable to react at a stadium in which they have not won in the league in any of the last 17 seasons.
Athletic Bilbao have demanded tough action to be taken after their goalkeeper Armando was hit in the face by a bottle thrown from the stands, causing their match at Real Betis to be abandoned. The Basques were winning Saturday's game 2-1, having just gone ahead from the penalty spot, when a fan threw a small plastic bottle full of liquid from behind the goal which hit Armando as he went to retrieve a ball for a goal kick.
The goalkeeper was taken off on a stretcher and had stitches for a cut just below his right eye, while referee Carlos Clos Gomez stopped the game with around 18 minutes left to play.
"Referees, assistants, coaches and now a player. How long can we go on allowing this kind of thing to happen?" Bilbao said.
"The Spanish league must not hold back. It is time to be European and to take drastic action."
