CHAMPIONS BARCELONA conceded a damaging late equaliser against local rivals Espanyol last night to hand Real Madrid a clear advantage in the Primera Division title race.

Pep Guardiola’s side went into the match six points behind Madrid following the challengers’ win against Granada on Saturday but were hoping to cut the gap back to three by beating their lowly neighbours.

They looked on course to do so as Cesc Fabregas gave them a 16th-minute lead but after failing to build on the opener, Barca – who also had efforts correctly ruled out for handball and offside – conceded the equaliser with less than five minutes to go as Alvaro Vazquez dived to head home. Gerard Pique hit the bar with a late effort and Espanyol survived a penalty appeal for handball as Barca were left frustrated.

Aritz Aduriz scored three minutes from time as Valencia recovered from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Villarreal at El Madrigal.

Jose Molina was taking charge of Villarreal for the first time and his side made an ideal start as Marco Ruben and Gonzalo had them 2-0 up inside 18 minutes.

But Sofiane Feghouli finished well at the end of an excellent team move to get one back before half-time and Villarreal were made to pay for passing up chances to kill the game off in the second half as Aduriz calmly curled the ball home from 18 yards.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the target of some unusually harsh criticism from the pro-Real Madrid sports media after he reacted to whistling and grumbling from a section of the home fans at the Bernabéu on Saturday by refusing to celebrate his goal.

The Portuguese netted Real’s fifth in the 5-1 drubbing of Granada, his 21st La Liga strike of the campaign.

However, there appears to be a perception among some fans that he can be too selfish, and he reacted by declining to celebrate and walking back to the Real half with his head bowed.