LONDON: Barcelona increased their hold on top spot in La Liga as their main rivals dropped points, and a referee grabbed the headlines in the Bundesliga on Sunday when he stopped a game because a coach refused to leave the pitch.

Florentina consolidated third place in Serie A and AS Roma bounced back from their Champions League defeat to Real Madrid with their fifth successive league win.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal and missed a penalty as Real drew 1-1 at Malaga to fall nine points behind Barcelona, while Atletico Madrid slipped eight points adrift of the league leaders after they were held 0-0 at home by Villarreal in a dour encounter.

Real were outplayed at times and fortunate to come away with a point that left Spanish media saying they could kiss the title goodbye with 13 matches to go until the endof the season.

Ronaldo opened the scoring against the run of play but had his penalty saved soon after and Malaga equalised through defender Raul Albentosa in the second half.

Borussia Dortmund`s 1-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga was interrupted for eight minutes after the home side`s coach refused to be sent to the stands.

The standoff was triggered by PierreEmerick Aubameyang`s 64th-minute goal, enough for second-placed Dortmund to restore the eight-point gap behind Bayern Munich and open a 15-point gap over thirdplaced Hertha Berlin.

Referee Felix Zwayer sent off Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt for complaining vociferously over the positioning of a free kick in the build-up to the goal, and then ordered both sides off the pitch when Schmidt made no sign of moving.Fiorentina moved six points behind Serie A leaders Juventus and provisionally four behind Napoli with a 3-2 victory at Atalanta, while Roma maintained their challenge for the final Champions League place with a 5-0 win against Palermo.

All the goals in Bergamo came in the second half, with Mati Fernandez, Cristian Tello and Nikola Kalinic scoring for Fiorentina.

Roma are two points behind Fiorentina after two goals apiece from Edin Dzeko and Mohamed Salah, and another from Seydou Keita secured their fifth straight league win.

In Ligue 1, Olympique Lyon failed to take advantage of St Etienne`s 1-1 draw with Olympique de Marseille after slumping to a 1-0 defeat at Lille.

St Etienne are fourth, level on 41 points with third-placed Nice, with a further two points adrift.-Agencies