BARCELONA, Spain -- With Cristiano Ronaldo missing his scoring touch, Real Madrid needed defender Pepe to score in the second half to secure a 1-0 victory at Espanyol on Sunday to pull within three points of the Spanish league co-leaders. Pepe was left unmarked to head in Luka Modrics corner kick in the 55th minute, as Cristiano Ronaldo failed to add to his league-leading 20 goals. Ronaldo is favoured to win the FIFAs Ballon dOr on Monday over Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery. The Portugal forward uncharacteristically wasted two clear scoring chances, while goalkeeper Kiko Casilla denied him on another three occasions. "The win is important because winning on the road is key to winning the league," said Pepe, who defended Ronaldo despite his off day. "I would vote for Cristiano because what he did last year is very important and he deserves it." Third-place Madrid took full advantage of Saturdays scoreless draw between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, which left them level at the top of the table at the leagues halfway mark. "The important thing today was to cut into Barcelona and Atleticos lead," said Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti. "We have to feel satisfied." Also on Sunday, Real Betis remained in last place after slumping to an error-plagued 2-1 loss at home to Osasuna. Rayo Vallecano won 1-0 at Getafes foggy Alfonso Perez Coliseum to end a five-game streak without a win in league play, and Levante edged Malaga 1-0 at home thanks to David Barrals 19th-minute header. Led by striker Jhon Cordoba, Espanyol surged forward at the start and almost took the lead when Christian Stuani steered his point-blank header past the wrong side of the post four minutes in. Madrid weathered Espanyols initial push and turned to Karim Benzema and Ronaldo to provide the attacking threat. Ronaldo scuffed Benzemas pass in the 18th before drawing two awkward saves from Casilla with a powerful strike in the 31st and a dipping free kick in the 37th. Espanyol, which was without suspended forward Sergio Garcia and coach Javier Aguirre, was fortunate to make it to halftime not trailing after Angel Di Maria squandered Madrids four-on-two counterattack seconds before Benzema headed wide in the 42nd. But Pepe made good on Madrids dominance by thumping Modrics pass under Casilla, who got a hand on the ball but not enough to keep it out of his net. Ronaldo had two more great looks to increase his impressive tally this season, but Casilla bettered him one-on-one in the 82nd before saving Benzemas shot in the 89th and watching Ronaldo fire the rebound wide with the goalmouth beckoning. Nothing went Betis way against Osasuna, a direct relegation rival, in a game both sides finished with 10 men. Betis conceded Roberto Torres header within two minutes, had Jose "Nono" Delgado dismissed with his second yellow card in the 38th, and saw Jordi Figueras score an own goal in the 57th. And when Osasuna goalkeeper Andres Fernandez gave them a sliver of hope in the 62nd when he was red carded for fouling Ruben Castro in the area, Castro deflated the crowd at Benito Villamarin Stadium by sending his penalty kick off the crossbar. Jorge Molina pulled one back in the 80th but Osasuna had two opportunities to widen the margin before the final whistle. The demoralizing loss left Betis winless in its last 12 league matches and seven points from safety. "We took a step backward today," said Betis coach Juan Carlos Garrido. "I wont deny it. It was important to win today, and besides, clearly our first half of the season was very poor. There has to be a radical turnaround in every facet for us to remain in the first division." Osasuna stayed unbeaten in four rounds and edged five points clear of the drop. Rayos win at Getafe still left it in the relegation zone. Forward Alberto Bueno scored what proved to be the winner in the 29th after Alejandro Galvez was quick to cross a rebounded shot. Levante climbed past Malaga into the middle of the standings. Wholesale NFL Jerseys China . 1 again in Golf Digests biennial ranking of "Americas 100 Greatest Golf Courses," beating out Pine Valley Golf Club by a fraction of a point. Wholesale Jerseys . -- Revis Island is relocating to Tampa Bay. http://www.wholesalejerseysdeals.us.com/ . Lewis described himself as "agitated," not angry, that the story has become part of the Super Bowl-week prelude to Baltimores game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. He added that hes certain his teammates wont be distracted by the report in Sports Illustrated. Wholesale Jerseys China . The highly regarded rookie was not in pads, his left leg was wrapped, and he did not participate in practice at all on Tuesday.DETROIT -- Calvin Johnson is used to looking down at defensive backs. The Detroit Lions 6-foot-5 wide receiver wont be able to do that against the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle can match up cornerbacks Brandon Brower and Richard Sherman, both of whom are at least 6-3, with Johnson and can have 6-3 safety Kam Chancellor lurking nearby. "Thats like a junior college basketball team," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "Theyve got some length and some size." While preparing for Seattle, Johnson said the tall defensive backs remind him of New York Jets 6-2 cornerback Antonio Cromartie "Its like theyve got a bunch of Cromarties," Johnson said. Even smaller defenders, though, have slowed down Johnson and that has led to Detroit (2-4) going into Sundays against Seattle (4-3) desperate for a win. Johnson has scored one touchdown -- on a pass from backup quarterback Shaun Hill -- after scoring 16 last season during one of the best seasons by a receiver in NFL history. "You cant get too caught up in what has happened," Johnson said. "You just have to keep pushing when adversity comes knocking because an NFL season is a 16-game grind." Seahawks coach Pete Carroll thinks his big cornerbacks have a shot to keep Johnson in check. "Well, were closer to him than everybody else is," Carroll said. "They only have to look up a little bit. Itll be interesting to see how our guys do. I can only imagine when the corners that are 5-10 or 5-11 are looking up at him." Days before the game in Detroit, Sherman changed his name on his Twitter account to "Optimus Prime," a Transformers character going into his matchup with Johnson, whose nickname is "Megatron." Sherman, who leads the NFL with 11 passes defended, insisted that covering Johnson is the same as facing Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Smith or Brandon Lloyd. "Aint no different to me, I dont care who is out there," Sherman said. "Its the league. There is going to be a good receiver out there every week." The Lions are down a good receiver for the rest of the year in Nate Burleson after he broke his right leg in Monday nights loss at Chicago. Theyre hoping second-year pro Titus Young, rookie Ryan&nbssp;Broyles and tight end Tony Scheffler do enough together to make up for the loss.dddddddddddd "I need to take advantage of every single opportunity Im given, especially when guys are focusing attention on Calvin and like we saw last week," Young said. "Guys are game-planning to shut down the best receiver in the NFL, and I guess Im the next guy up." Seattle will be without receiver Doug Baldwin, who has a high left ankle sprain and might be replaced by Charly Martin. The Seahawks, though, have one of the more promising young quarterbacks in the league. Russell Wilson, a third-round pick, leads his draft class of quarterbacks with four wins and is the first rookie QB since the merger to throw game-winning touchdown passes in the last two minutes of regulation or in overtime. He did it against New England and Green Bay. Wilson has completed nearly 60 per cent of his passes with eight TDs and seven interceptions and has run for 119 yards on 35 carries. "I feel very, very comfortable," Wilson said. Matthew Stafford, meanwhile, is not coming close to the production he had last season in his first full year as a starter. Stafford has thrown fewer TDs (five) than interceptions (six) after throwing 41 TDs and 16 interceptions last year. Stafford connected nine times with Johnson in the end zone during a 5-0 start that set the team up for its first playoff appearance since the 1999 season. Stafford acknowledged teams have done a good job of keeping Johnson out of the end zone with their blanketing coverages and fewer blitzes from a year ago. "We have to just hurt them in other ways," he said. "And guys have to step up and make plays, including myself." Detroit started the season with a quest to put the franchise in consecutive postseasons for the first time since the mid-1990s. The odds are stacked against the Lions right now, and they would get worse with another loss. Since 1978, 18 of 208 teams that started 2-4 since earned a spot in the playoffs, according to STATS LLC, and four of 156 teams that lost five of their first seven games rallied to make the post-season. "If we lose, we go down," Lions cornerback Chris Houston said. "If we win, we still got a chance." cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '