Real Betis suffered relegation from the Primera Division tonight as the race to remain in the top flight went to the wire. They started the day two places outside the bottom three but a home draw against Real Valladolid proved insufficient as both Osasuna and Sporting Gijon won to pull clear.

Osasuna's escape is the most remarkable as they beat champions Barcelona last week and second-place Real Madrid tonight. The Pamplona-based club fell behind to Madrid with Gonzalo Higuain cutting in from the right before firing a low shot past home keeper Ricardo.

A mistake from Iker Casillas allowed them to pull level, the Spain keeper letting a low shot from Jaroslav Plasil slip under his body and into the net. There was nothing lucky about the winner, however, Juanfran's spectacular volley finding the top right-hand corner. When that goal went in, Madrid were already down to 10 men with full-back Michel Salgado seeing red for a trip on his final appearance for the club. Juande Ramos's side were then reduced to nine players with Klaas Jan Huntelaar also dismissed late on.

Sporting would have fallen through the trapdoor had they not beaten already-relegated Recreativo Huelva 2-1. Ersen Martin put Recre ahead but goals from David Barral and Luis Moran turned the match around.

Betis were unable to win after also going behind. Marcos Aguirre opened the scoring for Valladolid but all the Seville-based club could muster in reply was an equaliser from Ricardo Oliveira. Betis finish the season level on 42 points, the same as Getafe. Their head-to-head record is also identical following two draws but Getafe stay up due to their superior goal difference.

Getafe finished with a 1-1 draw at Racing Santander. Toni gave Racing a 34th-minute lead but Esteban Granero levelled matters six minutes before half-time.

Espanyol looked odds-on to go down just a few months ago only to stage a remarkable resurgence which continued today with a 3-0 thrashing of Malaga in Barcelona. Captain Raul Tamudo netted a hat-trick for the hosts against a Malaga side who finished with 10 men following the sending-off of Weligton.

Third-placed Sevilla ended with a 2-0 win at Numancia, who will play Segunda Division football next season. An experimental Sevilla side went ahead two minutes from time through substitute Emiliano Armenteros and an own goal a minute later from Juan Carlos Moreno completed another miserable night for the hosts.