11.01.2011 18:17

Spanish League Round Up Week 18

Nick Bedson

Real Madrid’s 4-2 win over Villarreal meant Barça will have to wait another week before they can be proclaimed Winter Champions, whilst Valencia took advantage of Villarreal’s defeat to move to within 2 points of them in fourth.

Zaragoza again find themselves at the foot of the table following their 4-0 thrashing at Espanyol, whilst Sporting grabbed a dramatic late equaliser in Santander to give themselves a sniff of a hope and Almeria also shipped four at Mallorca.

Villarreal push Madrid hard

Villarreal put in a great first half performance at the Bernabeu on Sunday, twice going ahead through Cani and Ruben, but three Cristiano Ronaldo goals and another from Kaka –his first since his return after injury- gave Madrid the points. Cani was later shown a red on the bench after throwing a water bottle at Mourinho, as was Villarreal boss Juan Carlos Garrido, who later declared “referees are always very conditioned by being here and are afraid of making a mistake against Madrid –I think we deserve the same respect”. Valencia beat city rivals Levant 0-1 to move to within 2 points of Villarreal thanks to a late Mata goal after the Spanish forward had earlier missed from the penalty spot.

Espanyol stay in touch

Espanyol got back to winning ways after five games without a win when they thrashed Zaragoza 4-0 with Osvaldo, Luis Garcia, Alvaro and Sergio Garcia getting the goals, but bad news for Pochettino was the latest injury to Osvaldo, who will be out for two months with a hamstring injury. Behind Espanyol, Atletico Madrid suffered a morale shattering 4-1 defeat at Hercules on Monday night ahead of Thursday’s Cup trip to the Bernabeu. Hercules were four up inside 45 minutes, with Trezeguet again on target for his 9th goal of the season.

Revenge for Mallorca

Mallorca moved level on points with Atletico and Getafe, who drew 0-0 in Pamplona, after putting four past the hapless Almeria in revenge for their Cup defeat last week The two teams scored 19 goals in the three games they played against each other over the last three weeks – what price a goalless draw when they next meet in May? Bilbao also stayed in touch with the European spots thanks to a 93rd minute Javi Martinez goal that earned them a 1-1 draw at Malaga, for whom new signing Demichellis found the net in his first game. Seville move level on points with Bilbao. A point behind Mallorca, after their 2-3 win against Real Sociedad and have now won all their games in 2011.

Zaragoza back at the bottom

Zaragoza’s defeat pushed them back into the bottom place, as Sporting rescued point in Santander with an injury time strike from Castro to make it 1-1. Sporting move up to 18th, ahead of Almeria on goal difference and a point ahead of Zaragoza.