Marquez lifts Espanyol over Malaga

An amazing 30-yard strike from Javier Marquez gave Espanyol a 1-0 win over struggling Malaga on Saturday and moved them into a Champions League place.

There was only a minute on the clock when Marquez let fly with his left-foot and the ball flew into the top corner.

It meant an uphill battle already for third-from-bottom Malaga whose defence appeared to lose their nerve as Espanyol dominated the opening exchanges. Pablo Osvaldo should have doubled the lead but his tame shot was beaten away by the keeper Arnau Grabulosa.

Espanyol took their foot off the pedal and Malaga grew in confidence as the first half wore on and Eliseu Pereira and Nabil Baha were guilty of bad misses.

In a scrappy second half Malaga had chances on the break but came closest to scoring from a long-range effort from Quincy Owusu-Abeyie which came back of the crossbar.

Earlier Real Sociedad beat Racing Santander 1-0 thanks to a clinical strike from Joseba Llorente.

This was Real’s fourth victory in five games and they went ahead after just six minutes when in-form Llorente latched onto a clever through-ball by Xabi Prieto and made no mistake with his finish. The visitors were guilty of giving the ball away cheaply and Antoine Griezmann went close to doubling the lead when his lob went over the crossbar.

Ariel Nahuelpan had a shot saved by Real keeper Claudio Bravo but in the second half Real should have added to the lead notably when Griezmann, on his own in the area, saw his shot saved by the keeper Tono Rodriguez and then Prieto hit the post after a fine run.

“We should have made the game safe and not suffered so much but I thought it was a fairly even game,” said Real coach Martin Lasarte.

“We know what we have to do this season and we are not going to start to talk about Europe although we can enjoy the position in the league for the moment.”

On Sunday, leaders Real Madrid play local rivals Atletico but Real coach Jose Mourinho has tried to play down the importance of the game.

“I don’t aim to win derbies but to win championships and in order to do that you have to win games. The idea of playing derbies is to pick up points and that is what I want to do whether it is Atletico or anyone else,” he said.

“We want to win and it will be a difficult game so we have to be on form. I know that for the fans there is more than just points at stake but that is not the case for me.”

It is eleven years since Atletico last won at the Bernabeu but the team are in a positive mood after an important away win in the Europa League against Rosenborg.

Barcelona are poised a point below Real in case the latter slip-up and they face a trip to struggling Getafe.

Although the encounter on paper does not appear difficult, coach Pep Guardiola offered a word of warning. “Michel (Del Campo, the Getafe coach) is a Spanish football icon and what he achieved as a player was immense.

“His teams always play good football and we cannot fall into the trap of thinking that because their last few results have not been good that they will be a walkover,” he said.

“It is exactly this that does make them dangerous. It is a difficult stadium to visit for a lot of reasons and they have players with speed and quality.”

Behind the top two Villarreal and Valencia are desperately trying to keep up. Brazilian Nilmar has improved a lot since his first season at Villarreal and is now a potent threat in attack.