Higuain, Callejon save Madrid the blushes

Goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon gave La Liga leaders Real Madrid a 2-1 comeback win at Real Mallorca after a gritty display on Saturday that stretched their advantage over second-placed Barcelona to eight points.

However, third-placed Valencia missed the chance to close within a point of Barca when they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Real Sociedad in Saturday's late kick-off.

Mallorca's Israel forward Tomer Hemed's superb glancing header gave the home side a shock lead over Madrid six minutes before the break at their Iberostar stadium, but Real substitute Higuain levelled with a deflected strike 18 minutes from time.

Callejon grabbed the winner for the visitors in the 85th minute when he ran on to a loose ball and fired through a crowd of defenders past Hemed's international team-mate Dudu Aouate in the Mallorca goal to lift Real to 46 points from 18 matches.

Barca can cut the gap to their arch rivals back to five points with a win at home to Real Betis on Sunday.

Sociedad forward Antoine Griezmann got the only goal of the game in the 56th minute against Valencia.

Sevilla's bid to qualify for next season's Champions League suffered a setback when they followed up a three-match losing run with a 0-0 draw at home to Espanyol earlier on Saturday.

The Andalusian club, who have managed only 19 goals in 18 games this term, are sixth on 25 points, level with Espanyol and Malaga, who play at Sporting Gijon on Sunday.
Struggling Granada's troubles deepened when they lost 2-1 at home to Rayo Vallecano and dropped to 16th.