MADRID (AFP) - On Samuel Eto'o's 100th appearance for the club, Barcelona missed a golden opportunity to make inroads on leaders Real Madrid when Almeria twice came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw on Sunday.

After Real's surprise 1-0 slip-up at Deportivo La Coruna 24 hours earlier Barcelona, who had Gabriel Milito sent off in the second half, could have cut the gap on the defending champions to five points.

But with this stalemate Frank Rijkaard's side are seven adrift with 10 games to go.

Serb teenager Bojan Krkic put Barcelona into an early lead, the 17-year-old pouncing on a rebound after Almeria keeper Diego Alves failed to adequately deal with Andres Iniesta's shot from outside the area.

Almeria, who had mustered just the one point from their last three games but who could count Real Madrid among their victims, drew back level off a setpiece which exploited some lax Barca defending.

The totally unmarked Ruben Pulido took to the air to flash an angled header past Victor Valdes.

The former Real Madrid defender celebrated by taking an imaginary swing at a golf ball that would have impressed Tiger Woods.

Almeria teed themselves up for a second goal shortly after when a cross caused panic in Barca's back line with Valdes having to rush back and tip the ball over his cross bar.

Rijkaard then introduced substitute Thierry Henry into the mix in the 54th minute.

The France striker was only on the pitch for a matter of seconds before racing down the left wing to pull the ball back and cross to Samuel Eto'o who fired past Alves from the centre of the box.

Barca, missing a host of familiar names including Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho, were down another man when Argentinian Milito was sent off in the 72nd minute after picking up a second yellow card.

Any hopes though that Barca may have had to hold on to their lead were dashed six minutes from time when Kalu Uche exploited another defensive blip on the part of the visitors to head home past Valdes.

On Saturday an own goal by defender Pepe consigned Real to defeat at Deportivo. Real turned up on the north west coast seeking to end a winless run there stretching back to the 1991/92 season.

Deportivo's Felipe rounding Real defender Miguel Torres on the left, his goalbound shot taking a deflection off fellow Brazilian Pepe's outstretched leg with that unscripted intervention wrong-footing keeper Iker Casillas. Deportivo are lying in 13th position, two points off the drop zone.

Sunday's other action saw Villareal defeat Real Zaragoza 2-0 to follow up their historic Nou Camp victory last weekend with Nihat Kahveci and former Manchester United player Giuseppe Rossi with a second half penalty bagging the points.

That left third-placed Villareal two points behind Barcelona. Getafe celebrated being pitted against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals with a come from behind 2-1 success over Racing Santander.

Racing took the lead via Ebi Smolarek's 54th minute effort but Nigerian Ikechukwu Uche and star midfielder Jaime Gavilan struck back on 65 and 74 minutes to push Getafe up two spots into eighth. The game between Valladolid and Osasuna ended goalless.

In Sunday's late game Atletico Madrid climbed up to fourth with a 3-0 defeat of bottom side Levante.

Saturday's encounter between Real Betis and Athletic Bilbao was cut short in the 72nd minute by the referee after Athletic's keeper Armando was struck by a bottle of water thrown from the stands.

He had to leave the pitch on a stretcher. Athletic were leading 2-1 at the time the encounter at the Manuel Ruiz ground was stopped.

Elsewhere Recreativo Huelva prevailed 4-2 over Real Murcia with Florent Sinama-Pongolle getting a double for Recreativo in this basement battle.