FC Barcelona continued their perfect start to the Spanish League season with a fifth win in six matches, while the misery mounted for Real Madrid, who slipped to 10th place after yet another defeat in the sixth round of Primera Division over the weekend.
Henrik Larsson headed in the lone goal in the 70th minute on Sunday as Barcelona beat Numancia 1-0 to move ahead of Valencia at the top of the standings.
Larsson, who came to Barcelona this summer after seven successful seasons in Scotland with Celtic, rose above the defence to make perfect contact from a corner kick.
Madrid, determined to overturn their lacklustre domestic form of late, suffered their third loss in six matches, with Albert Luque scoring the lone goal in Deportivo La Coruna's 1-0 win.
Luque made a fast run after taking a defence-busting pass from Spain midfielder Juan Carlos Valeron and stunned the powerhouse in the 45th minute.
The win moved Deportivo up to 11th, while Madrid, which came back from two goals down to beat AS Roma 4-2 in the Champions League last week, slipped to 10th, seven points behind Barcelona.
Barcelona lead the standings with 16 points after their best start to the season in years. Valencia are second with 14, three ahead of Sevilla and four ahead of a pack of six teams. Madrid have nine points and Deportivo eight.
Meanwhile, AS Roma and Inter Milan played out a dramatic 3-3 draw in Sunday's featured match of Serie A in Italy, with both losing ground to Juventus, who stretched league lead by beating Udinese 1-0.
The late match at Stadio Olimpico, featuring the debut of coach Luigi Del Neri on Roma's bench, was rich of thrill, goals and alternating fortunes.
Striker Vincenzo Montella put Roma in the lead after nine minutes, controlling a long cross from Amantino Mancini and scoring with his left foot.
Midfielder Esteban Cambiasso equalised in first-half injury-time and fellow Argentine Juan Sebastian Veron made it 2-1 for Inter in the 51st.
Recoba scored Inter's third three minutes later on a quick counter-attack.
Roma's Francesco Totti scored from long distance with a masterful free-kick, while Daniele De Rossi scored the equaliser in the 74th. Inter coach Roberto Mancini was angry with his team's failure to control the match at 3-1.
