A contentious late penalty by Ronaldinho gave Barcelona a 2-1 win at Zaragoza to close the gap on Liga leaders Real Madrid to five points.

Thierry Henry opened the scoring for Los Cules but a Ricardo Oliveira equaliser gave Zaragoza deserved parity until Juanfran was harshly penalised for handball.

To add insult to injury, Diego Milito missed a penalty for the hosts, firing over the bar after Oliveira had been brought down by Rafael Marquez.

For Barca's penalty, Juanfran was adjudged to have handled under no pressure with the decision given on the instructions of the assistant referee, with replays inconclusive and pointing to the ball striking the Zaragoza wing-back's chest.

None of Barcelona's players called for the penalty to be given and - while it was tucked away with aplomb by substitute Ronaldinho - it left a sour taste after a match which Zaragoza deserved to win.

The visitors had gone ahead when Henry took down a sweet chipped pass from Deco and slid the ball under Cesar Sanchez on 34 minutes.

Ironically replays hinted at the merest use of a hand when he controlled the ball, but it would have been as harsh a call as that which handed Barca the win.

Zaragoza should have been in front by this point, Sergio Garcia especially profilgate and responsible for one horrific miss on six minutes.

Garcia, Oliveira and Milito also missed good opportunities before they were awarded a penalty when Marquez was tricked by Oliveira on 43 minutes.

Milito missed, but they got their reward for their dominance of Barca when Garcia found Oliveira on the left, the Brazilian sliding it past Valdes eight minutes after the restart.

And while Zaragoza had the best chances for the remainder of the match, Ronaldinho - who later missed a superb opportunity to make it 3-1 - blasted the ball home from 12 yards to break Zaragoza's hearts.

Madrid had lead at Betis through an early Royston Drenthe goal, the Dutchman tapping-in from close range after Julio Baptista had missed an Arjen Robben cross.

But Betis never gave up the chase and hit back with two goals in five minutes from Brazilian forward Edu and former Liverpool winger Mark Gonzalez.

Leading into the break it became a case of holding on for the hosts, who frustrated a lacklustre Real with determined closing-down, Ruud van Nistelrooy going the closest to an equaliser with an effort off the post after coming on as a substitute following injury.

Real stay top on 56 points, while Betis move up to 13th, dependent on other results later in the weekend.

In the other 7pm kick-off, the battle for European qualification continued to heat up after Sevilla continued their recent good form with a 4-2 win at Espanyol.

Goals from Luis Fabiano, Fredi Kanoute, Christian Poulsen and Diego Capel gave the visitors the victory, with Luis Garcia and Coro on target for Espanyol.

Sevilla move up to sixth, three points behind fifth-placed Espanyol.

Reda Maher / Eurosport