Villa returns with goal as Valencia go fourth

Spanish international David Villa returned with a bang scoring his seventh goal of the season as Valencia defeated 10-man Almeria 3-0 on Sunday to move into the top four.

Villa missed the 0-0 draw with Barcelona due to a thigh injury but started against Almeria and headed in on 54 minutes before Pablo Hernandez scored a sensational 35 yard chip and Juan Mata completed the scoring.

Almeria’s cause was not helped by the dismissal of goalkeeper Diego Alves after an hour for fouling Pablo.

Villa’s goal made it seven goals in as many games and the Euro 2008 Golden Boot winner sits alone at the top of the goal-scoring charts, one ahead of Osasuna’s Walter Pandiani.

The win was special for Valencia coach Unai Emery at his old club and they supplant Deportivo La Coruna in fourth on goal difference with Sevilla just a point ahead in third.

Depor saw a four-game winning run come to an end in emphatic fashion, crashing to a 4-0 defeat at Valladolid.

“Nobody in the dressing room is talking about the Champions League,” insisted Depor coach Miguel Lotina.

Earlier Villarreal finally recorded their first win of the season with a first goal from Brazilian club record signing Nilmar and a free-kick from Spanish international Joan Capdevilla sealing a much-needed 2-1 home win over Malaga on Sunday.

“Perhaps we sat a bit too far back but the points were too important and we couldn’t slip up,” said coach Ernesto Valverde. “It was our first win and you always hope a good run can start from here.”

It was Valverde’s first league win since taking over in the summer and lifts the club off the foot of the table with Malaga replacing them.

The 25-year-old Nilmar arrived at Villarreal with a big reputation and his 11-million-euro fee made him the most expensive player in the club’s history.

It had been a slow start for the Brazilian forward but in the 27th minute he got his first goal in Villarreal’s colours converting Damian Escudero’s cross.

Malaga responded close to half-time through Albert Luque but Capdevila’s free-kick on 54 minutes restored Villarreal’s lead and for once they held on.

Later on Sunday Barcelona have the chance to reclaim top spot and establish a three-point cushion over Real Madrid with a win over Real Zaragoza at Camp Nou.

Barca drew 0-0 at Valencia in their last league outing and surprisingly lost 2-1 at home to Rubin Kazan in the Champions League but experienced midfielder Xavi said talk of a crisis was wide of the mark.

“End of a cycle? Who says so? Nonsense, that is just ridiculous,” said Xavi. “You cannot talk about a crisis or the end of a cycle after one defeat.”

Barca are the only unbeaten team in Spain and lie joint top of their Champions League group so they are hardly in bad shape.

Real Madrid had a bad week with a 3-2 home defeat at the hands of AC Milan in the Champions League and a 0-0 draw at Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

It was the first time Real had failed to score this season – with injuries to key forwards not helping their cause – and goalkeeper Iker Casillas pleaded for time as new players were integrated.

“Florentino Perez (the Real Madrid president) brought a lot of great players to the club but we have known each other barely two months,” said Casillas.

“We shouldn’t be worried and should just carry on what we are doing.”