Villarreal's Javi Venta, centre, vies for the ball [EPA]

The striker struck in the 65th minute at Gijon's El Molinon stadium as Villarreal maintained its unbeaten record this season and took a one-point lead in the standings.

Villarreal's stay at the top will only last 24 hours if Valencia wins its home game against Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday to reclaim first place on goal difference.

Villarreal stayed a point clear of Real Madrid, which beat Real Betis 2-1 with goals by Gabriel Heinze and Ruud van Nistelrooy to climb into second place.

The defending champions gained their fourth straight win despite playing with 10 men for the final 35 minutes following the dismissal of left back Marcelo.

Villarreal has 13 points from five games. Madrid has 12 and Valencia 10.

Gijon's defeat was its fifth in five matches, in which it has conceded 20 goals, since it returned to the top flight after a decade's absence.

However the home team, which in its previous two games lost 6-1 to Barcelona and 7-1 to Madrid, gave a much more accomplished display against Villarreal and almost scored in the 41st minute when striker Mate Bilic's header struck the bar.

Rossi, who had entered the field as a halftime substitute, fired the winning goal from a corner by another replacement, Santi Cazorla.

The goal provoked a furious reaction from Gijon players, who claimed Villarreal striker Joseba Llorente handled the ball. Moments later, Gijon coach Manuel Preciado was ordered from the bench for his protests.

Real Madrid stretch streak to four

Madrid dominated the game at Manuel Ruiz de Lopera Stadium from the start and Heinze leaped to head home in the 18th minute from Rafael van der Vaart's floated free kick from the left.

Betis goalkeeper Casto Espinosa then came to his team's rescue on several occasions to prevent Madrid from extending its lead before halftime.

However, the home team also went close in the 45th minute when midfielder Achille Emana's shot was pushed onto the post by Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Betis, without a win this season, leveled in the 54th when Garcia ran in to fire home the rebound after the striker's penalty was parried by Casillas.

Marcelo's foul on Damia Abella led to the spot kick and the Brazilian's ejection.

Garcia was also ejected in the 82nd after receiving a second yellow card and van Nistelrooy won Madrid three points with an injury-time strike following a swift counterattack.

Barca bounce back after crowd trouble

Crowd trouble forced the late match between Espanyol and Barcelona to be halted for several minutes during the second half.

Home side Espanyol were 1-0 in front when television pictures showed a flare being lobbed from the upper stand in the direction of the fans below, leading referee Medina Cantalejo to take the players off the pitch for almost 10 minutes.

The game was eventually restarted and when it was Thierry Henry equalised for Barcelona before Lionel Messi added to the drama with a penalty deep into stoppage time.

On Sunday, it's: Atletico vs. Sevilla; Malaga vs. Valladolid; Almeria vs. Recreativo Huelva; Athletic Bilbao vs. Getafe; Racing Santander vs. Mallorca; and Numancia vs. Osasuna.

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