Injury-hit Villarreal underlined their Spanish league title credentials with a 2-1 victory over rock-bottom Recreativo Huelva on Sunday to cut the gap on leaders Barcelona to four points.
Despite missing seven players, including influential midfielder Marcos Senna, Villarreal had enough to overcome a Recreativo side who have won just once all season.
Villarreal were fortunate to go ahead when Santi Cazorla’s shot from outside the area went in off a defender after 26 minutes.
PHOTO: AFP/PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE
Ariel Ibagaza doubled the lead with a well struck free-kick, before Recreativo pulled a goal back through a penalty from Adrian Colunga after Pascal Cygan brought down Marco Ruben.
“We had a good game and in my opinion deserved more goals,” Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini said. “After our second goal we were clearly superior, although we didn’t take our chances. We won in spite of missing a lot of players.”
A Ruben Baraja header gave 10-man Valencia a 3-2 victory in a pulsating encounter with Real Betis at the Mestalla to keep them in the championship hunt.
Valencia had lost their last two home games, but went into a commanding lead after first-half goals from David Villa and Juan Mata.
Betis reduced the deficit when Juanma Gonzalez scored after 56 minutes.
Valencia then had Carlos Marchena sent off for a foul on Sergio Garcia, with Achille Emana converting the spot-kick. Betis pushed forward looking for the victory, but Baraja headed a free-kick powerfully past the stranded Betis keeper to give Valencia the three points.
A late brace for Diego Forlan put the gloss on Atletico Madrid’s performance as they beat 10-man Racing Santander 4-1 to move up to sixth place.
Fans were able to return to the Calderon after Atletico’s mid-week Champions League game was played behind closed doors, but they saw their side fall behind after just seven minutes when Mohamed Tchite scored from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Johnny Heitinga.
Atletico responded well, with Simao Fonseca firing home from a Forlan pass and then, following the sending off of Cesar Navas for a crude challenge on Paulo Assuncao, they began to take the game to the visitors. Sergio Aguero ended his goal drought with another well-taken strike.
Forlan scored his first with a left-foot shot from 25m and then a second with a flicked header to give Atletico a resounding victory.
Espanyol’s 1-0 home defeat to Sporting Gijon led to the post-match sacking of coach Bartolomeo Marquez with the team on the edge of the relegation zone.
Deportivo La Coruna defeated Almeria, with Joan Verdu scoring the only goal of the game.
Almeria were on the back foot after the sending off of Alvaro Negredo for elbowing Albert Lopo and they were lucky to survive a penalty that Verdu hit against the post, but it was Verdu who made amends with 15 minutes to go.
Spanish La Liga
Team | P | GD | PTS | |
1 | Barcelona | 13 | 31 | 32 |
2 | Villareal | 13 | 8 | 28 |
3 | Valencia | 13 | 14 | 27 |
4 | Real Madrid | 13 | 10 | 26 |
5 | Sevilla | 13 | 7 | 24 |
6 | Atletico Madrid | 13 | 9 | 21 |
7 | Deportivo La Coruna | 13 | 0 | 21 |
8 | Valladolid | 13 | -1 | 19 |
9 | Malaga | 13 | -2 | 18 |
10 | Sporting Gijon | 13 | -6 | 18 |
11 | Real Betis | 13 | 2 | 17 |
12 | Getafe | 13 | -2 | 17 |
13 | Racing Santander | 13 | -4 | 15 |
14 | Almeria | 13 | -7 | 15 |
15 | Mallorca | 13 | -8 | 13 |
16 | Athletic Bilbao | 13 | -8 | 12 |
17 | Espanyol | 13 | -9 | 12 |
18 | Numancia | 13 | -12 | 11 |
19 | Osasuna | 13 | -8 | 8 |
20 | Recreativo Huelva | 13 | -14 | 7 |
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
RSS