Liga round-up

Champions have to wait; Levante relegated

Last updated: 27th April 2008

marcos senna villarreal

Senna celebrates goal

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Teams

  • Athletic Bilbao
  • Atletico Madrid

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Second-placed Villarreal beat Real Betis 1-0 to make sure Real Madrid had to put their La Liga championship party on hold.

Marcus Senna's brilliant long-range effort from near the half-way line was enough for Villarreal to claim the win in Seville.

Real Madrid ensured they can retain their title next weekend after beating Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at the Bernabeu.

Goals from Javier Saviola, Arjen Robben and Gonzalo Higuain gave Real the spoils against Bilbao but they were also indebted to goalkeeper Iker Casillas for a first-half penalty save.

Real stay ten points ahead of Villarreal with just 12 points to play for and know that they will lift the championship with victory over Osasuna regardless of what Villarreal do.

Levante became the first club relegated from La Liga on Sunday after losing at Recreativo Huelva.

Levante have been making a fight of it in recent weeks but they finally succumbed as Recreativo won 2-0 with goals from Ersen Martin (9) and Javier Camunas (41).

Valencia, post-Ronald Koeman, moved four points clear of the drop zone with a crucial 3-0 win over Osasuna at the Mestalla.

Osasuna had goalkeeper Ricardo dismissed on 16 minutes - he also gave away a penalty which David Villa dispatched.

Second-half goals from Juan Mata (51) and Joaquin (82) gave caretaker coach Voro the perfect start. Osasuna are themselves just one place above the bottom-three, two points above Real Zaragoza, who claimed a 1-1 draw at Espanyol.

Espanyol took the lead on the hour through Spain winger Albert Riera but they were pegged back just six minutes from time as Ricardo Oliveira fired home a penalty.

Real Vallodolid bolstered their survival hopes with a last-gasp victory over Almeria. The only goal of the game arrived in injury time as Jonathan Sesma fired home.

Real Mallorca banished any fears they have of going down with a 3-1 win over Racing Santander.

Second-half goals from Nunes (48), Oscar Trejo (82) and Daniel Guiza (89) sealed the win for the Islanders as Racing could only muster a late Aldo Duscher (85) penalty.

Racing's loss meant they went two points adrift of Atletico Madrid in fourth as they drew 1-1 at Getafe.

Getafe had gone ahead through Juan Albin (13) but Sergio Aguero sealed a share of the spoils (39) for the Rojiblancos.

Match summaries:

Espanyol 1 Real Zaragoza 1

Getafe 1 Atletico Madrid 1

Real Betis 0 Villarreal 1

Real Madrid 3 Athletic Bilbao 0

Real Mallorca 3 Racing Santander 1

Real Valladolid 1 Almeria 0

Recreativo Huelva 2 Levante 0

Valencia 3 Osasuna 0