Villarreal reclaim third in Spanish league with Sevilla triumph

Villarreal reclaimed third place in the Spanish first division with a 1-0 home win over Champions League rivals Sevilla on Sunday with Brazilian striker Nilmar’s ninth league goal of the season sealing victory.

Nilmar, the club’s record signing at 11 million euros, struck on 29 minutes as Villarreal made it 19 points from 21 at home and climbed back into third after Espanyol had temporarily gone a point above them with a 1-0 home win over Sporting Gijon.

For Sevilla it was a third successive league defeat and the club trail Villarreal by 10 points in the standings and are eight points off the Champions League places.

Espanyol sit two points behind Villarreal, maintaining their 100-percent home record with a 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon at the Cornella-El Prat Stadium.

Espanyol were reduced to 10 men with midfielder Jose Baena sent off on 52 minutes but that did not stop forward Luis Garcia scoring a 69th-minute winner to move four points clear of fifth-placed Valencia.

It was a third consecutive league victory and a perfect seventh win from seven at home for Espanyol who join Real Madrid in having a flawless home record.

“There is still a long way to go in the league but dreaming of the Champions League is no longer forbidden,” said Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. “We are up there on our merit and it’s something we can enjoy.”

Relegation rivals Almeria and Real Zaragoza shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.

Argentine Pablo Piatti equalised for Almeria in the 77th minute after Zaragoza had gone ahead with a penalty 10 minutes earlier.

Zaragoza stay bottom with new coach Javier Aguirre still waiting for his first win in charge after collecting two points from his three games at the helm.

New Almeria manager Jose Luis Oltra is also waiting for his first win as his side stay second from bottom a point above Zaragoza.

In other matches, Malaga moved out of the bottom three with a thumping 4-1 home win over Racing Santander on Sunday.

After failing to score in their last two matches Malaga went goal crazy with Venezuelan international striker Jose Rondon scoring twice in as many minutes as the club moved out of the relegation places with Sporting Gijon taking their place.

Elsewhere promoted Real Sociedad host Athletic Bilbao later on Sunday in the first Basque derby since the 2006/07 season.

“Since the beginning of the week we have known it is going to be a special weekend because of the derby,” said Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente. “It has been three years without one and both teams will be fired up.”

Sociedad and Bilbao are level on 19 points in 10th and 11th respectively.

At the top champions Barcelona stayed two points clear of Real Madrid with a 3-0 win at Osasuna on Saturday thanks to a Lionel Messi brace.

Barcelona had a nightmare preparation for the match with a hastily-arranged five-hour train and coach journey to Pamplona after the Spanish Football Federation reversed their initial decision to postpone the fixture to Sunday.

Real Madrid had no such travel problems with a home match against Valencia and Cristiano Ronaldo scored both goals as Real defeated Valencia 2-0 to bounce back from their 5-0 Clasico drubbing to Barcelona at Camp Nou.

“Cristiano didn’t surprise me at all, he is a winner and I knew he would stand up to be counted and I knew he would do well,” said Real coach Jose Mourinho.