Atletico Move To Within 2 Points Of Barcelona As Villarreal Win In Valencia

Atletico move to within 2 points of Barcelona as Villarreal win in Valencia (Atletico move to within 2 points of Barcelona as Villarreal win in Valencia)

Jose Luis Gaya:  Julian Alvarez scored the only goal of the game as Atletico Madrid beat Deportivo a Coruna to move to within two points of FC Barcelona.

The Argentinian, who wanted to join FC Barcelona over the summer, scored his first league goal in the Metropolitano Stadium in almost a year as he slipped the ball home after a pass from Alex Grimaldo in the 47th to bring an otherwise dull game to life.

Villarreal fought back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 away to Valencia on Saturday, leaving new Valencia coach Javier Aguirre without a win in his first three games in charge, reports Xinhua.

Villarreal had been on top in the first half but again failed to take their chances and fell behind when defender Renato Veiga was penalized for a foul on Dani Raba, allowing Pepelu to put Valencia ahead against the run of play from the penalty spot in the 38th minute.

Alex Freeman headed Villarreal level in the 69th minute, but the visitors were reduced to 10 men 10 minutes later when midfielder Pape Gueye was sent off for a high elbow that caught Valencia's Jose Luis Gaya in the face.

Harvey Elliott joined Gueye in the dressing room when he was sent off for Valencia in the 89th minute after receiving a second yellow card for protesting, and Georges Mikautadze gave Villarreal all three points in the 96th minute after running onto Alberto Moleiro's pass behind the Valencia defense.

Racing Santander ended a run of three defeats and a draw with a 2-1 home win over Espanyol, who slipped into the bottom three.

Espanyol opened the scoring in the 61st minute when Edu Exposito's shot took a deflection past Racing Santander goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala.

The visitors' lead lasted until the 68th minute, when Jeanuel Belocian drilled home a left-footed shot to level the scores. After a spell of pressure from the home side, Yassir Zabiri scored the winner from close range in the 84th minute, taking his goal tally for the season to eight.

Two penalties in the 23rd and 36th minutes put Elche on course for a 3-0 win away to Rayo Vallecano in the first game at the Vallecas Stadium since a protest by Rayo supporters led to their match against Athletic Bilbao being suspended after just 13 minutes earlier this month.

Federico Redondo converted the first penalty with a powerful shot into the corner, while Fer Nino scored the second after Pathe Ciss fouled Thomas Lemar.

Ciss had the chance to bring Rayo straight back into the game with a penalty awarded for handball almost immediately afterwards, but he struck the crossbar.

German Valera sealed an important win for Elche in the 68th minute.

Malaga came close to securing their first win of the season on Friday night after taking the lead away to Deportivo Alaves through Adrian Nino's goal shortly before half-time.

German Valera sealed an important win for Elche in the 68th minute.

Article Source: IANS