La Liga Roundup - 25th October 2010
It was another exciting weekend in the Spanish La Liga where Villareal remained hot on the heels of Real Madrid and Barcelona with a win over Atletico Madrid while Sevilla beat Athletic Bilbao and Almeria had to be content with only a draw.
Espanyol also registered a win on Sunday over Levante and Getafe defeated Sporting Gijon while Ossasuna piled on the misery on Ossasuna.
Ruben Garcia and Giuseppe Rossi were on the score sheet at El Madrigal as the Yellow Submarines defeated Los Rojo Blancos.
The win sees Villareal climb to second spot in league standings just one point behind the leaders, Real Madrid and above Barcelona on goal difference after 8 matches in the competition.
It took only 9 minutes for Garcia to open the scoring and Rossi made sure of all three points for his side in the second half.
After a win in Europa League, Sevilla continued their good run as they defeated Athletic Bilbao 4-3 in a pulsating encounter.
Luis Fabiano ended his two month goal drought to help his side register a crucial win in the competition.
The prolific Brazilian finished from a rebound after Fredrick Kanoute’s shot was blocked by the keeper in the 35th minute.
Fabiano then won a penalty in the 45th minute that was converted by Kanoute. He once again made it 3-0 in the 63rd minute when he taped in from close range.
Fernando Navvaro got sent off in the 64th minute to provide a lifeline to Bilbao and they took full advantage of it. Fernando Llorente scored the first goal for Bilbao when he headed in a cross from Markel Susaeta and then reduced the arrears
further with a penalty in the 78th minute.
Still, Sevilla held on as Kanoute scored his second penalty on the night in the 79th minute and Gabilondo’s late goal could only prove to be a consolation.
Juanma Lilo might have saved his job with a hard earned draw over the newly promoted side, Hercules.
Leornado Ulloa equalized late in the game to cancel out a Haedo Valdez strike and thus saved the day for his side.
Earlier, there were media speculations that after a dismal start to the season, Lilo’s days as the manager were numbered and a loss to Hercules would have sealed his fate but the story had a new twist as Ulloa earned his side a draw and gave the manager
a chance to fight for another day.
Espanyl also won on Sunday to keep their 100% record at home intact with a 2-1 win over Levante at Cornella.
The team from Barcelona took lead early on with a goal from Jesus Datolo and looked set for an waxy win when Xisco Nadal received his marching orders and left the visitors playing with only ten men for the entire second half.
The Catalans looked to be strolling to a comfortable win when Jose Callejon doubled their advantage but Christian Stuani headed in the 84th minute to set up a grand finale but the comeback was never to be completed with 10 men as Espanyol held
on for the win.
In the other two matches of the evening, Getafe defeated Sporting Gijon 3-0 to give their suffering fans something to cheer about at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez.
After their losses to Atletico Madrid in the league and Stuttgart in the Europa League, Getafe finally got things right on the pitch as goals from Derek Boateng, Adrian Colunga and Ivan Marcano earned them a much needed win.
Ossasuna also registered a victory on Sunday as they defeated Malaga 3-0 on the night. Javad Nekounam, Shojaei Massoud and Carlos Aranda scored for their side to help them beat an out-of-sorts Malaga comfortably.
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