Villarreal on the up with victory over Elche

Villarreal moved into third place in LaLiga with a decisive 4-0 victory over Elche on Sunday.

Gerard Moreno opened the scoring in the 26th minute, tucking in his own rebound after an initial effort was blocked by Edgar Badia.

It took Giovani Lo Celso 10 more minutes to double the hosts’ advantage, who sent a left-footed strike into the top right from a tight angle.

Francis Coquelin trebled Villarreal’s tally after coming off the bench in the 79th minute and firing home from the centre of the area 10 minutes later.

That looked to be the final score before Jose Luis Morales got in on the action in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.

Unai Emery’s side ended the weekend level on 10 points with second-placed Barcelona, two behind league leaders Real Madrid.

Valencia, meanwhile, benefited from a full-squad effort as they dominated Getafe 5-1.

Toni Lato got the hosts off to an early lead in the seventh minute of a match that also saw first-half scores from Samuel Lino and Samu Castillejo before Nico Gonzalez and Hugo Duro put the game away after the break.

Both sides were down to 10 men late in the contest, with Valencia’s Ilaix Moriba seeing red in the 88th minute and Mauro Arambarri evening up the numbers in added time.

Elsewhere, Ruben Garcia’s 90th-minute goal lifted Osasuna to a dramatic 2-1 victory over Rayo Vallecano.

Aimar Oroz broke the deadlock early in the second half before Florian Lejeune levelled proceedings with 15 minutes remaining.

Denmark international Martin Braithwaite’s 83rd-minute goal, meanwhile, was the only score in Espanyol’s close 1-0 victory over previously-unbeaten Athletic Bilbao.

Lens eked out a 1-1 draw at Reims despite also playing with 10 men after Deiver Machado was punished for tripping Junya Ito in the 66th minute.

Folarin Balogun netted the opener five minutes later, but Lois Openda guaranteed his third-placed Ligue 1 side a point with an 82nd-minute equaliser.

It was the same scoreline at Brest and Troyes, who drew with Strasbourg and Rennes respectively. Both matches also saw men sent off, with Troyes losing Yoann Salmier in the 26th minute and Strasbourg’s Sanjin Prcic punished in the 31st of their contest.

Montpellier’s Valere Germain was given a red card in first-half stoppage time of the 3-1 home loss to Lille, for whom Jonathan David bagged a brace for the visitors.

It took just one goal from Dango Ouattara to give Lorient victory at Ajaccio, while Breel Embolo was the sole scorer in Monaco’s win at Nice and Clermont Foot sealed a 2-0 home victory over Toulouse.

Four different goalscorers sealed fourth-placed Serie A side Udinese’s 4-0 win over Roma, with Destiny Udogie opening proceedings in the fifth minute before Lazar Samardzic, Roberto Pereyra and Sandi Lovric netted in the second half.

Verona beat visiting Sampdoria 2-1 thanks to an Emilio Audero own goal and a strike from Scotsman Josh Doig, while the sides split the spoils in the other two Sunday contests, with Cremonese playing out a goalless draw with Sassuolo and Bologna’s meeting with Spezia ending 2-2.

Both Bundesliga clashes ended in clean sheet victories for the away teams.

Aaron Caricol’s 55th-minute strike was enough to give Mainz a win at 10-man Borussia Monchengladbach, who saw Ko Itakura sent off two minutes before the game-winner.

Hertha Berlin, meanwhile, sealed a 2-0 win at Augsburg. Second-half goals from Dodi Lukebakio and Marco Richter gave the capital club their first win of the campaign.

Elsewhere, Everton loanee Dele Alli netted in just his second match for Besiktas, his 35th-minute goal the second in his new side’s 3-2 victory over Ankaragucu, which lifted them to the top of the Turkish Super Lig table.