Saturday 4 March 2017 23:12, UK
Villarreal kept alive their top-four hopes in La Liga with a 2-0 triumph over Espanyol at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Saturday night.
With fourth-placed Real Sociedad having beaten Real Betis on Friday, Fran Escriba knew that his side needed three points to keep pace with the Basque outfit.
Before the game, Espanyol's starting XI donned T-shirts with 'Animo Asenjo' ('Cheer up Asenjo') as they paid tribute to recently injured Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, who ruptured his ACL for the fourth time in his career last Sunday against Real Madrid.
Midfielder Roberto Soriano put the Yellow Submarine in front on the stroke of half-time before Cedric Bakambu's effort ricocheted off Espanyol goalkeeper Diego Lopez to put the game out of reach with 10 minutes left.
Elsewhere, Leganes sealed an important 1-0 victory over strugglers Granada thanks to Darwin Machis' late goal. The win moved Leganes five points clear of the drop zone.
Barcelona cruised past Celta Vigo 5-0 with Lionel Messi on target twice. Neymar, Ivan Rakitic and Samuel Umtiti also scored as Luis Enrique's side moved back to the top of the table.
They had been replaced earlier on Saturday by Real Madrid when Zinedine Zidane's team beat Eibar 4-1 at Ipurua Municipal.
Karim Benzema scored his first league goals since January, with James Rodriguez and Marco Asensio on the scoresheet too. Eibar's consolation was scored by Ruben Pena.
