La Liga wrap: No budging Villarreal

Villarreal held on to third place in La Liga with a 1-0 win at home to Sevilla on Sunday, while Espanyol and Malaga also triumphed.

Brazil international Nilmar collected a Giuseppe Rossi through-ball to score the game’s only goal in the 30th minute at El Madrigal.

Victory sees Villarreal stay within five points of second-placed Real Madrid and seven from league-leaders Barcelona.

Espanyol kept pace in fourth with a 1-0 win at home to Sporting Gijon.

A 70th-minute strike from Luis Garcia – played in by Pablo Osvaldo – was enough for Espanyol to see off the struggling visitors at Estadi Cornella El-Prat.

Gijon are now only clear of the drop zone courtesy of goal difference after third-from-bottom Malaga’s 4-1 win over Racing Santander.

First-half strikes from Eliseu and Recio and a second-half brace from Salomon Rondon did the damage for the home side at La Rosaleda, with Markus Rosenberg netting for Racing.

The bottom two sides – Almeria and Real Zaragoza – played out a 1-1 draw of little benefit to either team at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos.

Gabi put Zaragoza ahead from the penalty spot in the 67th minute, but Almeria were level nine minutes later through a close-range header from Pablo Piatti.

A point leaves Zaragoza bottom with nine points, while Almeria are a point better off but still three short of safety.

A double in the space of six first-half minutes from Pedro Rios helped Getafe beat visitors Real Mallorca 3-0 at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez, with the third coming from Daniel Parejo 11 minutes from time.