Real Sociedad edged out Real Mallorca 2-1 on Sunday to re-establish their four-point lead at the top of the Spanish first division and ensure they will go into the New Year as league leaders.

Mallorca took the lead with a Samuel Eto'o header early in the second-half but goals from Javi de Pedro and Miquel Aranburu took the unbeaten Basques to a ninth victory of the season.

Champions Valencia also claimed a valuable win, 2-0 away to local rivals Villarreal on Saturday, while Real Madrid came from two goals down to beat Recreativo Huelva 4-2 on Sunday and claim their first home victory in two months.

Real Sociedad remain untouchable at the top, though, with 32 points from 14 matches with just one more league game to play before the Christmas break.

Valencia stay second on 28 points, with Real Madrid moving up to third, eight points behind the leaders but with a game in hand.

Celta Vigo and Real Betis both lost further ground on the leaders with surprise defeats to sides in the bottom half of the table, Celta going down 3-0 at Racing Santander and Betis losing 1-0 at home to Rayo Vallecano.

Celta slip to fourth on 24 points, behind Real Madrid on goal difference, with Betis in fifth a point further back.

OVERHEAD KICK

Deportivo Coruna moved up to sixth, behind Betis on goal difference, thanks to a 1-0 win at home to Malaga that came courtesy of an Albert Luque overhead kick four minutes from time.

While Real Sociedad had to come from behind to claim victory over Mallorca and Deportivo Coruna needed a late flourish to beat Malaga, the best of the evening's drama came at the Bernabeu, where Real Madrid had to compensate for an appalling start.

Recreativo, the division's basement side, took the lead in the third minute after an inexplicable error from Iker Casillas.

The Spanish international raced from his goal in an attempt to clear and David Cubillo was able to fire the ball straight past him.

Miguel Angel Espinola added a second on 15 minutes with a neat close-range finish before Real raised their game, rarely used full back Raul Bravo reducing the arrears with a cool chip from the edge of the box on the half-hour.

Ivan Helguera headed in from a corner on 64 minutes and Raul put the home side ahead with a classy drag-back and shot 20 minutes from time.

Recreativo keeper Jose Antonio Luque was sent off in the final minute for bringing down Guti in the area and Luis Figo converted the spot kick to make certain of a much needed victory.

"The response from my team was magnificent," Real coach Vicente del Bosque said. "We scored another four goals and set the crowd shaking.

"We played a good game. The first 15 to 20 minutes was a case of the opposition taking their chances. They deserved their lead but we were able to turn the situation round."