La Liga: Valencia beat Espanyol to stay in touch with leaders Barcelona
Sunday 19 November 2017 22:45, UK
Valencia rode their luck to claim an eighth consecutive win in La Liga and move back to within four points of leaders Barcelona.
Marcelino's side were outplayed in the first half by Espanyol, who hit the post twice through Gerard Moreno and Sergi Darder, but turned the tables after the break in a 2-0 win.
Espanyol created chance after chance in the first hour but could not take any of them and they were made to pay in the 66th minute.
Marcelino's frustrations had seen him sent off following a confrontation with referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez, but as he was making his way to the stand, Geoffrey Kondogbia curled in a superb opener.
Espanyol's misery was complete in the 82nd minute when an attempted chest back to 'keeper Pau Lopez from Victor Sanchez went horribly wrong and Santi Mina nipped in.
The result sets the stage perfectly for next Sunday, when Valencia host Barcelona - live on Sky Sports Football.
Malaga came from behind to boost their survival prospects with a dramatic 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruna.
Despite an early opener from Roberto Rosales, the hosts looked to be heading for another defeat when Deportivo responded through Lucas Perez and Fabian Schar either side of the break.
But Michel's men, who claimed their first win of the season at the end of last month, equalised when Chory Castro fired home just past the hour mark.
And they sealed another three points when Borja Baston burst through the Deportivo defence to fire the winner past 'keeper Ruben six minutes from time.
In the late games on Sunday, Levante moved up to 12th with a 2-0 win at Las Palmas thanks to goals from Cheick Doukoure and Jason in the second half.
In Bilbao, Athletic earned a 1-1 draw with Villarreal thanks to Aritz Aduriz's 77th-minute leveller. Manuel Trigueros opened the scoring for visitors Villarreal, eight minutes after he had seen a spot kick saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga.
