Espanyol defeated Levante on Sunday, Getafe were too strong for Sporting Gijon, while Osasuna overcame Malaga. Goals from Ruben Gracia and Giuseppe Rossi allowed Villarreal to defeat Atletico Madrid 2-0 at El Madrigal.The three points moved the club onto 19 points in La Liga, above defending champions Barcelona on goal difference and only one point behind leaders Real Madrid after eight matches.
Gracia opened the scoring in the ninth minute and after the end of the first half, which concluded with a dispute surrounding an Atletico penalty claim, Rossi made sure of the points with a goal in the 52nd minute. Luis Fabiano ended a two-month scoring drought with two goals as Sevilla beat Athletic Bilbao 4-3 after a frantic finish.The Brazil striker controlled Frederic Kanoute's failed effort to bounce a shot inside the near post in the 35th minute of the game for his first goal since August. Fabiano then earned a 45th minute penalty that Kanoute converted to deflate the Basque visitors, before he raced past Bilbao's defence to reach Ndri Romaric's long ball in the 62nd and tap a looping shot over goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz. Bilbao were given a lifeline by Fernando Navarro's sending off in the 64th minute and Fernando Llorente then headed Markel Susaeta's 74th minute cross into the bottom corner before scoring from the rebound of his own saved penalty for his sixth goal of the season in the 78th minute. However, Kanoute converted his second penalty of the match, which was awarded in highly-debatable circumstances, in the 79th minute to render Igor Gabilondo's late goal as a mere consolation.
Crucial equaliser
Leonardo Ulloa's late equaliser earned Almeria a 1-1 draw at home to promoted side Hercules, which may also have saved the job of coach Juanma Lillo. The Andalusian side's form has been wretched so far this season and there was speculation that a fresh defeat may spell the end for Lillo. And that looked a distinct possibility as Nelson Haedo Valdez gave the visitors the lead eight minutes before half-time. But the locals stuck to their task and Ulloa, a summer signing from Second Division Castellon, came up with the all-important leveller with seven minutes remaining.
Espanyol kept their perfect home record intact with a 2-1 victory over promoted side Levante at Cornella. The Barcelona-based team went ahead through Argentinian winger Jesus Datolo early on and looked set to stroll to a comfortable victory after Xisco Nadal was sent off for the visitors 10 minutes into the second half. The Catalans doubled their lead with 10 minutes left, when Jose Callejon struck, but suffered a nervy final few minutes after Christian Stuani headed a late goal for Levante.
Getafe gave their fans something to celebrate at the end of a disappointing week as they crushed Sporting Gijon 3-0 at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. Michel's men came into the match having lost 2-0 at local rivals Atletico Madrid last weekend and then going down 1-0 to Stuttgart in the Europa League on Thursday, but goals from Derek Boateng, Adrian Colunga (penalty) and Ivan Marcano got the Azulones back on track.
Struggling Osasuna grabbed some welcome points with a commanding 3-0 victory against out-of-sorts Malaga. The hosts jumped into the lead after three minutes thanks to a Javad Nekounam penalty before further strikes by Shojaei Massoud and Carlos Aranda either side of the break sealed a one-sided win.
Best Regards,
Tauqeer Ahmed
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