Primera Liga round-up

Villarreal into second as Bilbao gain priceless win

Last updated: 30th November 2008

Primera Liga round-up

Cazorla: Opened scoring

Click on the links below for individual match stats:
Almeria 0 Deportivo La Coruna 1
Athletic Bilbao 2 Numancia 0
Atletico Madrid 4 Racing Santander 1
Espanyol 0 Sporting Gijon 1
Malaga 4 Osasuna 2
Recreativo 1 Villarreal 2
Valencia 3 Real Betis 2
Valladolid 3 Mallorca 0

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Villarreal climbed back up to second in La Liga as Athletic Bilbao moved out of the relegation zone with an important win.

Valencia jumped up to third spot after overcoming Real Betis and Atletico Madrid crushed Racing Santander after falling behind early on.

After Real Madrid lost at Getafe on Saturday, Villarreal took advantage to move up a place with a 2-1 win at bottom side Recreativo.

The visitors took the lead on 27 minutes when Santi Cazorla fired home from a corner by Ariel Ibagaza, who increased the advantage with a free-kick on the stroke of half-time.

Recreativo grabbed a consolation on 82 minutes when Adrian Colunga scored from the penalty spot after Pascal Cygan brought down Marco Ruben.

Valencia have also leapfrogged champions Real in the table after a battling 3-2 win at home to Betis.

David Villa and Juan Mata scored inside the opening 20 minutes for Valencia before Betis launched a second-half comeback.

Juanma pulled a goal back on 56 minutes and Achille Emana equalised from the penalty spot on 64 minutes after Carlos Marchena had been sent off for bringing down Sergio Garcia.

But Valencia overcame the handicap of being down to 10 men to grab the points on 73 minutes when Ruben Baraja headed home Manuel Fernandes' free-kick.

Diego Forlan scored two and created two as Atletico recorded a 4-1 win over 10-man Racing at the Vicente Calderon.

Racing were ahead through Mohamed Tchite's seventh-minute penalty, but Forlan teed up Simao to equalise on 21 minutes.

Cesar was sent off for the visitors on 31 minutes for a foul on Paulo Assuncao and three minutes later Atletico were in front after Forlan played in Sergio Aguero to score.

Forlan made it 3-1 on 78 minutes with a fine finish after Assuncao had won possession and the Uruguayan glanced home Giourkas Seitaridis' cross three minutes later to complete the scoring.

Bilbao lifted themselves out of the bottom three in the table as Fernando Llorente scored both goals in a 2-0 home win over Numancia, who now slip into the relegation zone.

Opening goal

Llorente headed home Susaeta's free-kick for the opening goal on seven minutes and then finished off Javi Martinez's pass on 31 minutes.

Joan Verdu scored the only goal of the game as Deportivo La Coruna battled to a 1-0 win at 10-man Almeria.

Negredo was sent off on 52 minutes and, after Verdu hit a 67th minute penalty against the bar, he made amends with the winner on 75 minutes.

Carmelo smashed a 29th minute shot into the top corner to earn Sporting Gijon a 1-0 win at Espanyol.

Real Valladolid eased to a 3-0 victory at home to Mallorca, with Jose Garcia Calvo opening the scoring on 29 minutes.

Close range

Angel Vivar Dorado added another from close range on 56 minutes and, 10 minutes later, Henok Goitom got in on the act.

A pulsating second half at Malaga saw the hosts run out 4-2 winners over struggling Osasuna.

After a scoreless first half, Malaga went in front on 56 minutes through Apono's penalty after Javier Calleja had been brought down by Juanfran.

Nabil Bahar headed home Adrian's cross for 2-0 on 62 minutes before Osasuna drew level through headers from Javad Nekounam and Miguel Flano on 79 and 81 minutes.

But Albert Luque restored Malaga's lead on 84 minutes and Apono played in Eliseu to clinch the win two minutes into injury-time.