Madrid  - Spanish giants Valencia announced Thursday evening that Nikola Zigic had been loaned to Racing Santander until the end of the season.

Santander president Francisco Pernia intends to present Zigic to the media on Monday.

The gigantic Serbian striker was a great success when playing for Santander in the 2006-2007 season, scoring 11 league goals. He was then sold to Valencia, where he has failed to hold down a regular first-team place.

Madrid  - Spanish Liga club Almeria announced at midnight Monday the sacking of coach Gonzalo Arconada.

Club president Alfonso Garcia made the announcement five hours after Sunday's 1-0 defeat away to Sporting Gijon, which leaves Almeria fifth from bottom, with 16 points from 16 games.

According to the digital version of Marca, the favourite to replace Arconada is former Mallorca and Betis boss Hector Cuper.

Madrid - In the midst of the Christmas rush, there's a long line of people waiting patiently in central Madrid. They're not after this year's must-have item; they want a Christmas lottery ticket.

Despite rising unemployment and the ongoing financial crisis, Spaniards' enthusiasm for the annual Christmas lottery remains strong. After all, when the winning numbers are drawn Monday, the biggest lottery in the world could shower up to 2.3 billion euros (3.2 billion dollars) on some lucky people.

Indeed, the crisis seems to have spurred, not dampened, interest in the lottery. Now Spaniards who are having problems paying their mortgage or have lost their jobs have begun to see the lottery as a way out of financial problems.

Madrid  - Atletico Madrid moved up to joint second in the Spanish Liga on Saturday with an important 3-2 win away to lowly Espanyol.

Maxi Rodriguez scored twice for Atletico, fellow Argentine Sergio Aguero netted the other goal.

They now have 30 points from 16 games, the same as Sevilla and Valencia, who lost 1-0 away to fifth-placed Real Madrid earlier on Saturday.

"It was really important for us to win tonight, but we had to work hard for it," said Aguero.

Madrid  - Real Madrid came back to life on Saturday with a tight, tense 1-0 home win over Valencia.

Real won thanks to an early goal from Gonzalo Higuain and a stellar display from goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Valencia left the Estadio Bernabeu complaining about the sending- off of captain Carlos Marchena, and bemoaning their lack of precision in attack.

Real only had 43 per cent possession, due to the counter-attacking style imposed by new coach Juande Ramos.

The win takes Real from sixth to fourth, with 29 points from 16 games.

Madrid - The Spanish government on Friday approved plans to tighten the conditions for immigration, lengthening the maximum detention of undocumented migrants from 40 to 70 days.

The planned law will also make it more difficult for immigrants to bring family members to Spain, allowing them to bring parents only if they have lived in Spain for at least five years and if the parents are more than 65 years old.

The law will also grant more rights to undocumented immigrants, such as the right to form associations and to stage demonstrations, and the right to education for minors.