Sam Parker rounds up the midweek La Liga action as the bottom six all claim results.
BOTTOM THREE ALL WIN TO BOOST SURVIVAL HOPES
Xerez produced their finest performance of the season to record a win at the Vicente Calderon as they triumphed 2-1 over Atletico Madrid.
Atletico have so often proved to be strong at home but the visit of the bottom side proved a different matter altogether. Mario Bermejo opened the scoring for Xerez as he took his personal tally into double figures for the season. It didn’t take Atletico long to respond, as Diego Forlan netted his 17th of the season three minutes later, but Emiliano Armenteros grabbed a winner for Xerez mid-way through the second half.
Tenerife were also victorious on the road as they defeated Sporting Gijon 2-0.
The game had looked set to end in stalemate for 70 minutes, until Roman Martinez finally broke the deadlock. Alejandro Alfaro then made sure of the points for Tenerife with three minutes remaining to give Tenerife a real chance of survival.
Valladolid kept pace with Tenerife as they recorded a surprise win over Sevilla. In truth, the score-line flattered the Andalusians as their hosts dominated the match and missed several gilt edged chances before prevailing 2-1.
Diego Da Costa eventually gave Valladolid the lead with a free header inside the six-yard box and Manucho made up for a horror miss by doubling the advantage shortly after the break. Juan Torres Ruiz Cala brought Sevilla back into the game with a phenomenal 30-yard strike, but it proved to be in vain as Sevilla dropped out of the Champions League places.
MALLORCA CLAIM FOURTH, ATHLETIC & VILLARREAL LOSE
Mallorca took advantage of Sevilla’s defeat to move back into fourth by a single point after drawing at Zaragoza.
With away form something of a concern, the Islanders will be pleased to have taken something from a team who have been in decent form lately. Ruben Gonzalez gave the visitors the lead early on, but Humberto Suazo soon levelled to earn Zaragoza another point as they bid to avoid the drop.
Athletic Bilbao’s hopes of Champions League qualification were dealt another blow as they seem to struggle on the road as well. They visited Valencia on Thursday, who secured their stranglehold on third place with a 2-0 victory over the Basque side.
Highly-rated winger David Silva notched his sixth and seventh goals of the season as Valencia eased any fears that they may relinquish third spot.
Villarreal’s fine recent form came to an end as they were hammered 3-0 by Getafe.
Miku took advantage of a rare error by Spanish number three, Diego Lopez, pouncing to tuck home the opener. The night got worse for Lopez as Jose Mane’s free-kick came back off the post and hit the spread-eagled ‘keeper before trickling over the line. Miku then tapped home a third to secure the points for the Madrid-based outfit.
Getafe’s own hopes of European qualification don’t look as dead as they did a month ago, as their recent run has seen them claw back some ground, with this result allowing them to leap-frog Villarreal in the table.
BARCA & REAL RECORD FURTHER VICTORIES
There were no issues at the top of the table as Barcelona followed up their win over Real Madrid with a 3-0 win over Deportivo, whose hopes of European football can’t possibly exist anymore.
Bojan got the ball rolling for the Champions, as he side-footed a first-half strike to continue his recent goal-scoring form. Pedro doubled the advantage in the second half with an outrageous 45-yard effort after he collected a poor clearance by ‘keeper Daniel Aranzubia to score his ninth league goal of the season. Yaya Toure then grabbed a rare goal, as he volleyed home Xavi’s corner.
Real Madrid kept the gap at three points after they came from behind to beat Almeria 2-1.
Albert Crusat had threatened an upset when he opened the scoring for the home side after 15 minutes, but as they have done so many times this season, Los Blancos rallied to turn the game around.
Cristiano Ronaldo got the equaliser with a wonderful solo effort, slaloming through the Almeria defence before slotting home. Rafael Van Der Vaart, guilty of a bad miss in the first half, then netted what proved to be the winner 20 minutes from time.
RACING WIN, MALAGA HELD BY OSASUNA
Racing Santander boosted their own survival hopes as they turned over Espanyol 3-1.
The visitors could have been forgiven for having one eye on the Barcelona derby on Saturday, with so little else left to play for. They contributed heavily to their own downfall, however, especially having taken the lead thanks to Ivan Alonso. They soon relinquished that advantage after conceding a penalty which Mohammed Tchite duly converted.
Things got worse early in the second half as Racing were awarded another penalty, with goalkeeper Carlos Kameni earning himself a red card for his role. Tchite was again successful from the spot to put them in the driving seat, before Manuel Arana made sure in the final minutes of the match.
Malaga and Osasuna played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in Pamplona in the round’s other game.
The result leaves Malaga dangling precariously above the drop zone, but could have been far worse had they not come from behind twice.
Former Birmingham player Walter Pandiani had twice put Osasuna in front to put him into double figures for the season, but goals from Felipe Caicedo and Nabil Baha twice levelled for Malaga.
The game ended with ten-aside, as Ivan saw red for a second bookable offence three minutes into stoppage time, before Sergio was given a straight red for violent conduct two minutes later.