Villa fires Valencia past Villarreal
Reuters - Sunday 17 January 2010, 22:08
MADRID - David Villa netted twice to fire
Valencia to a 4-1 win over 10-man Villarreal in La Liga on
Sunday and lift Unai Emery's side to within three points of
second-placed Real Madrid.
Real slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday
to remain on 41 points after 18 matches, five behind undefeated
champions Barcelona, who took full advantage of Real's slip-up
by thrashing Sevilla 4-0 at the Nou Camp.
Valencia have 38 in third and Real Mallorca leapfrogged
Deportivo La Coruna into fourth with a 2-0 home win over the
Galicians earlier on Sunday.
Atletico Madrid continued their recovery from a poor start
to the campaign with a nervy 3-2 win over Sporting Gijon and
Racing Santander's 18-year-old midfielder Sergio Canales
cemented his status as La Liga's rising star when he netted the
equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Real Valladolid.
Ever Banega laid the foundation for Valencia's third
straight league win when the Argentine midfielder swept the ball
high into the net in the sixth minute at the Mestalla, his first
goal for the club.
Villa doubled the lead from the spot in the 28th after he
was hauled back by Kiko and the referee awarded a penalty and
showed the Villarreal defender a straight red card.
A defensive howler from Joan Capdevila gifted a third to his
Spain team mate David Silva on 56 minutes and Nilmar pulled one
back for the visitors with 29 minutes left after a mix-up
between defender Alexis Ruano and goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez.
Silva crossed for Villa to score his 14th of the season at
the death, putting the Spain striker back at the top of the La
Liga scoring chart level with Barca forward Lionel Messi.
TENSE FINALE
Atletico had been lifted by a stirring comeback against
second division Recreativo Huelva in the King's Cup on Thursday
and carried the momentum into the match at their packed Calderon
stadium earlier on Sunday.
Uruguay striker Diego Forlan raced clear to give them the
lead in the 13th minute but the good work was undone 20 minutes
later when goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo clumsily felled Diego Castro
in the penalty area.
Castro picked himself up and sent Asenjo the wrong way to
restore parity before Forlan nodded the ball into Assuncao's
path for the Brazilian midfielder to poke home in the 53rd.
Teenage substitute Ibrahima Balde netted with an angled
strike with 24 minutes remaining to make it 3-1 before Luis
Moran scored in added time to set up a tense finale.
"We suffered unnecessarily at the end but these are three
very important points," Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores
said at a news conference.
"The positive results have had an impact and the players
have more confidence and believe in what they are doing."
Racing teenager Canales followed up last weekend's two
stunning strikes against Sevilla with another coolly executed
chip to salvage a home draw against struggling Valladolid after
Pablo Pinillos had scored in his own net in the 19th.