Juan Manuel Pena scored an own-goal in the first half and deflected Deco's strike after the interval Sunday to help FC Barcelona beat Villarreal 2-0 in the Spanish league.
The win at Villarreal was Barcelona's seventh straight in the league and ninth overall. It also ended Villarreal's 13-game unbeaten streak in the league and Champions League and completed a good week for Ronaldinho, who was voted European player of the year last Monday.
Surprising Osasuna kept up the pressure on the leaders with a 2-1 win at Malaga. Striker Achille Webo and winger Valdo Lopes scored first-half goals.
PHOTO: AP
Osasuna's win was its 10th in 14 games and keeps the team behind Barcelona on goal difference -- each with 31 points.
Also, it was: Espanyol 1, Valencia 3; Cadiz 1, Zaragoza 2; Alaves 0, Mallorca 3; and Racing Santander 2, Real Sociedad 2.
Celta is in third points, five points behind the leaders. Real Madrid and Valencia are next with 25 points, while Sevilla and Villarreal have 23.
On Saturday, Ronaldo scored and David Beckham was ejected in Real Madrid's 1-0 win over neighbor Getafe.
Barcelona, which had scored 28 goals in its previous eight games, relied more on grit than flair to overcome Villarreal in an abrasive encounter in which Pena played an unlucky role.
The visitors took the lead in the 24th minute when the Bolivia international inadvertently deflected the rebound after goalkeeper Sebastian Viera had only parried Ronaldinho's curling, bouncing free kick.
Pena then helped with Barcelona's second goal in the 63rd minute when Deco's fierce drive from outside the area hit him and flew past Viera.
Barcelona's Mexican defender Rafael Marquez was ejected in the 88th minute after receiving a second yellow card.
The Catalan team was playing its first game without Spain midfielder Xavi Hernandez, who tore a cruciate knee ligament on Friday and will be sidelined for six months. His teammates took the field in tee-shirts carrying the message "Cheer up. We're with you" in Catalan.
Xavi's replacement, Thiago Motta, was carried off on a stretcher in the 71st minute after making a tackle which earned him a yellow card. Motta missed most of last season with a knee injury.
Mauro Camoranesi scored the winner in the 88th minute, and defending champion Juventus beat host Fiorentina 2-1 to widen its lead in the Serie A.
France striker David Trezeguet put Juventus in the lead in the eighth minute, kicking in a low cross from Zlatan Ibrahimovic for his 11th goal this season.
Trezeguet missed the chance to make it 2-0 a few minutes later.
Fiorentina equalized in the 39th with a header from Gianpaolo Pazzini, but a long pass from midfield caught Fiorentina's defense wide open, and a header from Trezeguet fed the unmarked Camoranesi in the 88th.
"It was a wonderful, tense match," Juventus coach Fabio Capello said. "This is the kind of play we like to see on the field and in the stands."
Andy Cole scored two goals, and Manchester City routed host Charlton 5-2.
Cole put City in the lead in the 25th minute at The Valley and, although Darren Bent leveled 11 minutes later, Trevor Sinclair restored the visitor's lead straight from the restart.
Joey Barton added the third in the 69th minute. Charlton's Luke Perry handled inside the area and, although Barton's spot kick was blocked by Addicks goalkeeper Dean Kiely, the midfielder followed up to score.
Jay Bothroyd hit back for Charlton to make it 3-2, but the speedy Darius Vassell broke clear to add the fourth in the 79th minute and Cole punished a weak header from Perry to round the 'keeper and add the fifth with six minutes to go.
City stayed in eighth place with the win, while Charlton lost its sixth in a row and slipped to 12th.
Celtic rallied to beat Aberdeen 3-1 and return to the top of the standings.
When Jamie Winter put Aberdeen 1-0 up in the 53rd minute it looked like Gordon Strachan's Hoops may follow last week's surprise loss to Dunfermline with another defeat.
But Celtic scored three goals in eight minutes through Aidan McGeady, Stilian Petrov and Paul Telfer. It was the 13th victory in 17 games for Celtic, which now leads Hearts by a point.
Celtic is 17 points ahead of traditional rival and defending champion Rangers, which slipped to fifth on Saturday after losing a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw with Falkirk.
Marcelinho scored one goal and set up a second to lead Hertha Berlin to a 2-1 comeback win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Marcelinho's pass to an unmarked Yildiray Basturk leveled the match in the 58th, and six minutes later the Brazilian sent Leverkusen defender Juan sprawling, then chipped in a close-range winner.
Bulgaria international Dimitar Berbatov put Leverkusen ahead in the 20th, striding between three defenders to rifle a low shot inside the post.
Hertha Berlin moved four points clear of sixth-place Borussia Dortmund and boosted the team's hopes of playing international soccer next season.
"We're on the right path -- we've solidified our hold on fifth place," Berlin coach Falko Goetz said. "There's room to tickle more out of this team. We have good young players and we will sign some top ones."
Berlin also needs to play in European competition to help reduce its 35-million euro debt, a big amount for the Bundesliga.
Manchester United will meet a non-league team in the third round of the FA Cup with Sunday's draw kind to the powerhouse teams.
The record 11-time winner of soccer's oldest and most famous domestic cup competition is at either Burton Albion or Burscough, whose game on Saturday was postponed because of a waterlogged field.
Burton is coached by former Liverpool star Nigel Clough.
Although the random draw has no seedings, no Premier League clubs were drawn to face each other.
Defending champion Arsenal, which has won the cup 10 times, hosts League Championship's Cardiff, while Premier League winner Chelsea welcomes Huddersfield from League One.
Champions League holder Liverpool has a tricky game at Luton, which is pushing for promotion to the League Championship.
The games will be staged over the Jan. 7-8 weekend and the final is scheduled to be staged at rebuilt Wembley stadium on May 13.
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