Madrid - Villarreal and Spain winger Santi Cazorla will be out for the rest of the season after breaking his right leg in Saturday's 3-0 defeat away to Almeria.

Cazorla, 24, suffered the injury in the 64th minute and was immediately stretchered off.

He has become a key man for Villarreal in recent seasons, thanks to his hard work, his crosses from the right and his important goals.

Madrid - Barcelona stay six points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid in the Spanish Liga, with both of the twin giants scoring tight away wins on Saturday.

Barca won 1-0 in Valladolid on a goal from league top scorer Samuel Eto'o. Real triumphed 1-0 in Malaga thanks to a solitary strike from Gonzalo Higuain.

The big two won despite the fatigue and injuries caused by the recent international matches.

Barca now have 72 points from 29 games, Real have 66.

Madrid  - Barcelona took another step towards the Spanish title on Saturday, with a tight 1-0 win away to midtable Valladolid on a goal from league top scorer Samuel Eto'o.

Eto'o struck five minutes before half-time in Valladolid, with his 26th Liga goal. He played a classy one-two with Xavi and made it 1-0 with a calm lob.

Barca coach Josep Guardiola decided to give Lionel Messi, Dani Alves and Thierry Henry a welcome rest after their national team exertions.

Madrid - The Spanish economy will shrink 3 per cent this year, the Bank of Spain predicted Friday.

Unemployment will climb from about 14 per cent - already the highest in the European Union - to 17 per cent this year and 19.4 per cent in 2010, the central bank said.

The government had earlier forecast that the economy would shrink 1.6 per cent in 2009, its first contraction in 16 years, and start growing again next year.

Madrid - Real Madrid will be without Marcelo, and possibly Arjen Robben as well, in their Spanish league match away to Malaga on Saturday.

The left-back Marcelo will be out of action for around 12 days, after pulling the abductor muscle in his right leg whilst warming up before Wednesday's Brazil vs Peru World Cup qualifying match.

Real coach Juande Ramos will now have to field either Miguel Torres or Royston Drenthe at left-back, because Gabriel Heinze is also missing through suspension.

Madrid  - Prosecutors at Spain's National Court on Thursday asked judge Fernando Andreu to shelve his investigation into a 2002 Israeli bombing in Gaza Strip for the time being.

Documents handed over by Israel indicated that the events in question were still under investigation by Israel, the prosecutors argued.

Andreu had earlier interpreted the documents differently, concluding that he had jurisdiction over the case, because there was no investigation in Israel.