Villareal climb up the league

Villareal climb up the league

Villarreal's dismal start to the season now looks a distant memory as Ernesto Valverde's upwardly mobile side ended 2009 in ninth spot after seeing off Racing Santander 2-0 with two second-half goals.

Joseba Llorente, who struck an injury-time winner against Atletico Madrid last weekend, opened the scoring in the 51st minute and Giuseppe Rossi doubled the lead 21 minutes later as Villarreal continue to make up for lost time following their worst start to a Primera Division season.

The Yellow Submarine were left propping up the standings after taking just three points from their opening seven league games, while they also lost two of their opening three Europa League group matches.

But they have now won nine of heir last 13 competitive matches, helping them not only climb the table but also progress in Europe and the Copa del Rey.

Deportivo La Coruna and Valencia shared the spoils in an entertaining 0-0 draw at the Riazor.

Both coaches will be left feeling frustrated after watching their men waste a sackful of chances.

Espanyol brought their miserable five-match losing streak to an end with a deserved 2-0 win at home to fellow strugglers Almeria.

The Barcelona-based side looked nervous following their recent poor form, but struck a huge psychological blow as they took the lead on the stroke of half-time, through Javi Marquez.

And Ferran Corominas wrapped up a deserved win for the Catalans with a second goal late on to give Mauricio Pochettino's men a huge boost and relieve pressure on the Argentinian coach.

Real Valladolid picked up their first Primera Division win since October - and only their third of the season - as substitute Haris Medunjanin's 90th-minute winner earned a 2-1 home victory over Sporting Gijon.

The Bosnian fired in from Alberto Bueno's pass 12 minutes after coming on to complete Valladolid's comeback after they had trailed to Luis Moran's opener in the 13th minute.

Nivaldo converted a close-range header to level just before the half-hour mark and both sides had chances to win it before Medunjanin settled the contest.

The win moved Valladolid four points clear of the bottom three.

Malaga's miserable campaign took a much-needed turn for the better as the Andalusians beat in-form Real Mallorca 2-1 to secure their first league victory since the opening day of the season.

Fernando Fernandez gave Malaga the lead halfway through the first period and although Mallorca hit back through Julio Alvarez 11 minutes after the break, Fernando Forestieri struck the winner late on to secure a rare success.

Atletico Madrid were indebted to goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo for helping them escape from their trip to fellow strugglers Tenerife with a point in a 1-1 draw.

Asenjo was beaten after just three minutes when Francisco Nino put Tenerife ahead, but the 4.5million euro summer signing from Real Valladolid saved everything the home side could throw at him after that - which proved to be a considerable amount.

Jose Manuel Jurado drew the vistors level with a well-worked goal on 22 minutes.

On Saturday, Real Madrid trimmed Barcelona's lead at the top back to two points after sweeping aside sorry Real Zaragoza 6-0 at the Bernabeu.

The game was over as a contest inside the opening 34 minutes as Madrid raced into a 4-0 lead through braces from the in-form Gonzalo Higuain and Rafael van der Vaart.

Manuel Pellegrini's side then added two more goals in the second half through big-money summer signings Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema - on his 22nd birthday - to record their biggest win of the season.

Sevilla slipped further off the title pace as their poor recent home form continued with a surprising 2-1 defeat at home to Getafe.

Manolo Jimenez's side had failed to win either of their previous two league matches at the Sanchez Pizjuan.

They found themselves two goals down inside 33 minutes tonight against a plucky Getafe outfit thanks to Roberto Soldado's brace and, though Alvaro Negredo pulled one back at the start of the second half, Sevilla could not find a way back into the game.

Early goals from Fran Yeste and Fernando Llorente gave Athletic Bilbao a fine 2-0 victory over northern rivals Osasuna.