Primera Liga round-up
Villarreal boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop from the Primera Division with a dramatic home victory while Mallorca and Sevilla both won.
Last Updated: 12/04/12 11:13pm
Villarreal boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop from the Primera Division with a dramatic home win.
Meanwhile, Mallorca secured their survival thanks to a comprehensive away win at lowly Racing Santander.
And Sevilla moved up to seventh by defeating relegation threatened Real Zaragoza who are now seven adrift of safety.
Hernan Perez grabbed a dramatic stoppage time winner to earn Villarreal a 2-1 thrilling comeback win over Malaga, that boosted their chances of avoiding relegation from the Primera Division.
Spain midfielder Santi Cazorla gave Malaga the lead after 65 minutes, firing in from the edge of the area against his former club, but the game was turned on its head in with nine minutes remaining.
Malaga keeper Carlos Kameni brought down Perez for a penalty and was sent-off, and Marcos Senna kept his cool to convert from the spot.
And Villarreal complete a dramatic turnaround when, in the 94th minute Paraguayan midfielder Perez volleyed the winner from outside the area and help the Yellow Submarine move seven points clear of the drop zone.
A brace from Alvaro Negredo and one from Federico Fazio steered Sevilla to a comfortable 3-0 victory over relegation-threatened Real Zaragoza at the Estadio Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Antonio Luna was instrumental in the opening goal when his corner from the left was headed home by Fazio from six yards after 10 minutes and Spain forward Negredo took his Primera Division goals tally to 10 with efforts in the 29th and 44th minutes.
Sevilla doubled their lead as Manu del Moral steered the ball into the path of Negredo who rifled home from 12 yards.
And Negredo grabbed his second when he nodded home from close range after Manu's initial effort had been kept out by Zaragoza goalkeeper Roberto Jimenez.
The win took Sevilla up to seventh while Zaragoza remain second-bottom, now seven adrift of Villarreal
Racing Santander remain marooned at the bottom after Mallorca secured their survival with a 3-0 win at El Sardinero.
The visitors got off to a dream start as Victor Casadesus' pass split the Racing defence wide open and Emilio Nsue ran through to round Dani Sostres and roll the ball home.
Christian Stuani should have equalised when he struck the post midway through the first half but Mallorca wrapped up the points within eight minutes of the break as Chori Castro doubled their advantage from another Victor assist before Alejandro Alfaro bundled in a third after Nsue had hit the crossbar.
Racing have now lost six of their seven games since Alvaro Cervera took charge.