Spanish La Liga 2009/2010

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David Villa celebrated his new contract with a goal in Valencia's 3-0 win over Real Mallorca in their Primera Liga season-opener on Saturday.

The Spain striker, who penned a six-year deal at the Mestalla in midweek, put the hosts on the way to victory in the 35th minute.

Juan Manuel Mata and substitute Vicente Rodriguez added further goals either side of halftime as Unai Emery's side got its campaign off to the perfect start.

Espanyol recorded an opening-day victory for the first time in seven seasons as it posted a 1-0 triumph at home to Valladolid.

Luis Garcia's second-half strike proved decisive as the the hosts managed to hold on to their slender lead.

It was revenge for the Barcelona-based side, which had lost to Valladolid on the opening day of last season.

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Barcelona and Real Madrid both suffered surprise defeats on the opening weekend of the Primera Liga season.

Pep Guardiola’s team dominated for long periods at newly promoted Numancia but were undone by a defensive lapse after just 12 minutes, when Mario was left unmarked in the area and fired home what turned out to be the winner.

Madrid’s 2-1 loss at Deportivo La Coruna was not so unexpected with the Spanish champions now without a league win at the Riazor since the 1992/93 season.

Alberto Lopo bagged the winner for the Galicians early in the second half, shortly after Ruud van Nistelrooy had cancelled out Mista’s first-half strike.

There were no such worries for city rivals Atletico Madrid, who thrashed sorry Malaga 4-0 at the Vicente Calderon.

The game was as good as over by half-time with Atletico racing into a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from center-back John Heitinga, making his league debut following his summer transfer from Ajax, and a brace from striker Diego Forlan.

Florent Sinama-Pongolle then became the second summer signing to net for Javier Aguirre’s side as he completed the scoring 10 minutes from time.

Getafe left it late but ultimately got Victor Munoz’s reign off to a winning start with a 2-1 triumph at newly-promoted Sporting Gijon.

Juan Albin opened the scoring for the visitors just before the quarter-hour mark and, although Diego Castro evened matters 10 minutes before half-time, Javi Casquero’s 86th-minute strike proved decisive for Getafe.

Almeria also began life under a new coach - Gonzalo Arconada - with an impressive victory, 3-1 at Athletic Bilbao.

New signing Hernan Pellerano opened the scoring for the visitors in the seventh minute and Alvaro Negredo doubled their tally shortly after the half-hour mark before Juanma Ortiz sealed the victory five minutes into the second half.

Ion Velez pulled one back for Athletic six minutes later and when the hosts were awarded a penalty in the 67th minute it seemed as though a stunning comeback might be the cards but Almeria goalkeeper Diego Alves saved Fran Yeste’s spot-kick.

Elsewhere, Marco Ruben scored the only goal of the game in the 36th minute as Recreativo Huelva prevailed 1-0 at Real Betis.

The other two matches in Spain on Sunday finished in 1-1 draws.

Racing Santander missed a penalty through Ezequiel Garay but came back to earn a point against Sevilla when Juanjo cancelled out Luis Fabiano’s opener.

Osasuna came from a goal down to snatch a deserved point against Villarreal in a bad-tempered game which saw both sides finish with 10 men.

Marcos Senna put Villarreal - last season’s runners-up - ahead with a stunning free-kick nine minutes after the break but Iran midfielder Javad Nekounam brought the home side level 15 minutes later from the penalty spot after his compatriot Masoud Shojaei had been fouled by Diego Godin.

Godin was shown a straight red card for the foul, but Osasuna were also reduced to 10 men eight minutes later when Miguel Flano was dismissed for an ugly challenge on Javi Venta.

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Defending champion Real Madrid won its first match of the season 4-3 over Numancia on Sunday after Jose Maria “Guti” Gutierrez scored the 5000th Spanish league goal in club’s history.

Gonzalo Higuain and Rafael van der Vaart also netted for Madrid, with the game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium decided by Numancia left back Domingo Cisma’s own-goal.

Juan Carlos Moreno scored twice and Jose Javier Barkero had Numancia’s other goal as the promoted team came close to emulating its victory over FC Barcelona in its opening game.

Madrid has three points, three behind Espanyol, the only team to have made a perfect start to the season.

Espanyol won 1-0 at Recreativo Huelva after striker Luis Garcia scored in the 84th minute with an angled shot from just inside the area which culminated a sweeping, passing move.

Almeria drew 2-2 with Valencia, leaving the two sides with four points, level with Sevilla, Getafe and Villarreal

Pablo Piatti gave Almeria a 20th-minute lead when he pounced after goalkeeper Renan Brito had spilled Julio Alvarez’s shot.

Valencia leveled through Alexis Ruano in the 35th, only for Almeria striker Alvaro Negredo to score with a looping header five minutes later.

Spain striker David Villa fired the visitors’ equalizer from Joaquin Sanchez’s pass in the 69th.

The result marked a satisfactory return to Juegos Mediterraneos stadium for Valencia coach Unai Emery, who led Almeria to promotion two seasons ago and to eighth place last season.

Sunday’s other results were: Villarreal 1, Deportivo La Coruna 0; Getafe 0, Real Betis 0; Malaga 0, Athletic Bilbao 0; and Mallorca 1, Osasuna 1.

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Barcelona registered their first win of the Primera Liga season in emphatic style as they crushed newly promoted Sporting Gijon ,6-1, on Sunday evening.

The pressure had been on new Barca coach Pep Guardiola following a return of just one point from their opening two games but the Catalan giants were back to their free-flowing best in Gijon.

Xavi and Samuel Eto'o gave Barca a commanding halftime advantage and an own goal from Jorge Garcia further strengthened their position.

Although Francisco Maldonado pulled one back for Sporting immediately, the hosts' task was rendered almost impossible by the sending-off of Gerard.

Barca took full advantage of their numerical advantage with Andres Iniesta and a late double from Lionel Messi sealing an impressive win.

Guardiola's side are up to mid-table, three points behind a four-way tie for top spot.

Valencia sits atop the pile after an 83rd-minute fromJuan Mata goal saw them beat Osasuna 1-0.

Almeria, in second, also left it late to beat Malaga with Alvaro Negredo netting with 15 minutes to go to settle a bad-tempered derby which saw both sides finish with 10 men.

Villarreal are third and Espanyol fourth.

The Yellow Submarine won 2-1 at Numancia on Sunday, goals from Santi Cazorla and Joseba Llorente seeing them to victory after Gorka Brit had put the home side in front on the stroke of halftime.

Espanyol were the overnight leaders despite being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Getafe on Saturday.

Sergio Sanchez grabbed a point for the Barcelona side just before the hour mark after Manu had put the visitors ahead two minutes into the second half.

Real Madrid are on the coat-tails of the leaders after a 2-0 win at Racing Santander.

It was another unconvincing display from Bernd Schuster's side but they claimed all three points thanks to second-half goals from Ruben De la Red and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The Seville derby, between Real Betis and Sevilla, ended goalless, as did the meeting of Deportivo La Coruna and Real Mallorca at the Riazor, while Athletic Bilbao enjoyed a maiden win after edging out Real Valladolid 2-0.

Fernando Llorente put the Basque side ahead five minutes into the second half and an Andoni Iraola penalty with seven minutes to go settled matters.

In Saturday's other game, Atletico striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle scored a brace against former club Recreativo Huelva as Los Rojiblancos romped to a third successive 4-0 home win.

The absence of injured frontman Diego Forlan was all but forgotten in the seventh minute when Sergio Aguero opened the scoring.

Maniche doubled the lead shortly after the interval before Sinama-Pongolle added gloss to the scoreline with goals after 78 and 89 minutes to secure the points.

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Almeria's unbeaten start to the season came to an abrupt end as the Andalusian side went down to a spirited Valladolid side, 2-0, on Thursday evening.

Alvaro Rubio struck the opener halfway through the second half and Haris Medunjanin added a second in the fifth minute of injury time to give Valladolid its second home success of the campaign and end Almeria's hopes of joining Villarreal at the top of the Primera Liga.

But the Valladolid midfielder later was sent off following a second yellow card in the closing stages.

And the game saw more controversy as Almeria was erroneously denied an equalizer by the assistant referee's flag shortly after Valladolid went ahead.

Both Valladolid and Almeria are in their second season back in the Primera Liga, although their fortunes have been mixed since promotion to the top-flight.

Valladolid began strongly last season, but ended up in a relegation dogfight and eventually finished just above the drop zone in 15th place.

Almeria, meanwhile, started more slowly last term, but enjoyed a wonderful second half to the season and even challenged for a place in Europe before finally ending up in eighth spot.

And the pattern had seemed set to continue this season.

Valladolid lost two of their three matches before this one, but did beat Atletico Madrid in its second game of the campaign.

But Almeria came into this match unbeaten on seven points and had the chance to draw level with Primera Liga pace-setters Villarreal.

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Two second-half goals from David Villa and one from Joaquin put Valencia top of the Primera Liga when they came from behind to beat Deportivo Coruna 4-2.

Valencia have 13 points from five games, with Villarreal second on goal difference after they defeated newly promoted Sporting Gijon 1-0.

Champions Real Madrid are a point adrift in third place after grabbing a 2-1 away win over 10-man Real Betis with an injury time goal from Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Barcelona also snatched victory in stoppage time when Lionel Messi converted a penalty deep into injury time to seal a 2-1 win over cross-town rivals Espanyol.

Crowd trouble forced the referee to halt the derby for several minutes after a flare was thrown from the upper stands and landed near fans below.

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Briefs reports of matches played in the Primera Liga on Sunday:

REAL MADRID 2 ESPANYOL 2

Champions Real Madrid twice came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw with Espanyol at the Bernabeu.

Raul Tamudo’s 21st-minute penalty gave the visitors the lead but Raul levelled for the fifth-placed side four minutes later.

Luis Garcia’s nicely hit chip restored the lead on 31 minutes for Espanyol before Raul slipped through the visitors’ defence and levelled in first-half stoppage time.

REAL VALLADOLID 0 VALENCIA 1

A second-half goal from Manuel Fernandes gave Valencia a 1-0 victory at Real Valladolid and top spot in the Primera Liga.

The Portugal midfielder’s 54th minute strike moved Valencia back level with Villarreal at the top on 16 points from six games but they lead thanks to a superior goal difference.

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SEVILLA 4 ATHLETIC BILBAO 0

Sevilla maintained their unbeaten start to the Primera Liga season by thrashing Bilbao 4-0 at the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Mali striker Kanoute broke a scrappy opening 25 minute spell by capitalising on a mistake by Bilbao defender Mikel Balenziaga and Brazilian midfielder Renato headed in a Jesus Navas cross to make it two just before the break.

Adriano Correia grabbed a third 14 minutes from time and Uruguay striker Ernesto Chevanton cut through Bilbao’s disorganised defence for number four five minutes later.

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RECREATIVO HUELVA 0 MALAGA 4

Malaga thumped Recreativo 4-0 thanks to two goals from Portuguese midfielder Eliseu and one each from fellow midfielder Duda and striker Nabil Baha.

Eliseu opened the scoring in the first minute and Baha doubled the lead five minutes before halftime, nodding home from a corner. Eliseu set up fellow countryman Duda for an easy third just after the break and completed the scoring on 62 minutes.

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GETAFE 2 ALMERIA 2 Late headed goals from striker Alvaro Negrado on 87 minutes and defender Chico in injury time rescued an unlikely point for Almeria at Getafe.

Nigeria striker Ikechukwu Uche had given the home side the lead on 68 minutes after a mazy run through the Almeria defence and Francisco Casquero grabbed the second three minutes later before his side surrendered their lead at the death.

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REAL MALLORCA 0 SPORTING GIJON 2 Sporting Gijon collected their first points of the season after Carmelo Gonzalez’s 12th minute strike and Roberto Canella calm finish five minutes into the second half moved the promoted side off the foot of the table.

Sporting, who lost 7-1 to Real Madrid and 6-1 to Barcelona in recent weeks survived pressure from the home side in the second half including a missed penalty from Cameroon striker Pierre Webo.

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OSASUNA 0 RACING SANTANDER 1

Juan Valera, on loan from Atletico Madrid, struck two minutes into injury time to give Racing their first win of the season. In a messy 90 minutes, Osasuna’s Czech midfielder Jaroslav Plasil was sent off for handling in the area only for Argentine defender Ezequiel Garay missed the subsequent spot kick.

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DEPORTIVO CORUNA 1 NUMANCIA 0 Angel Lafita’s neat backward header over Numancia keeper Juan Pablo Colina on 13 minutes was enough to give Depor their second win of the season in a balanced contest.

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Played on Saturday

BARCELONA 6 ATLETICO MADRID 1

Barcelona trounced visitors Atletico Madrid 6-1 at the Nou Camp after storming three goals in front after just nine minutes.

Rafael Marquez headed home a well-placed corner from Xavi on three minutes before Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o converted a penalty three minutes later and Lionel Messi’s quick free kick made it 3-0.

Atletico’s Argentina midfielder Maxi Rodriguez pulled one back on 13 minutes but Eto’o got his second five minutes later and Eidur Gudjohnsen and Thierry Henry completed the scoring in either half.

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VILLARREAL 2 REAL BETIS 1

Villarreal made it five wins from six when two second half goals in quick succession gave them a 2-1 victory over bottom-placed Real Betis.

Gonzalo Rodriguez headed home an Ariel Ibagaza free kick in the 67th minute to cancel out Damia’s early strike before the struggling visitors failed to deal with a goalmouth scramble and striker Joseba Llorente struck the winner.

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Valencia opened up a two-point gap at the top of the Primera Liga following a 4-0 victory over struggling Numancia at the Mestalla on Sunday.

An early goal from David Villa put the hosts firmly in control and, though the Soria-based outfit held back the floodgates for more than an hour, late strikes from Juan Mata, Vicente and a second for Villa applied the gloss to an easy afternoon’s work for Unai Emery’s men.

Sevilla moved into second, above Villarreal on goal difference, after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Almeria.

Adriano scored the only goal, firing home from the edge of the box seven minutes into the second half.

Barcelona remained within three points of Valencia following a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao.

Samuel Eto’o struck the only goal of the game midway through the second half after a fine run by Thierry Henry.

Getafe slipped to their first away defeat of the season as resurgent Malaga came from behind to take all three points at La Rosaleda.

The visitors looked well set for their third road victory of the campaign when Roberto Soldado put them ahead after 10 minutes.

But the home side, who have now won three games on the spin after a slow start, roared back and won it with first-half goals from Nabil Baha and Sergio Duda.

Racing Santander and Deportivo La Coruna drew 0-0 while Jose Antonio Camacho could not inspire his new charges as 10-man Osasuna slipped to another defeat at Sporting Gijon.

Sporting took an early lead through Gonzalez Carmelo, but were pegged back courtesy of Santiago Ezquerro’s leveller just three minutes later.

Mate Bilic restored Sporting’s lead from the penalty spot after being impeded in the box by Roversio, who was sent off for the foul.

The defeat left Osasuna without a Primera Liga win this season, while Sporting, after back-to-back wins, leapfrogged their opponents out of the relegation zone.

New Recreativo Huelva coach Lucas Alcaraz came within seconds of winning his first game in charge but a dream start was denied by a last-minute equalizer at Real Valladolid.

Alcaraz, who replaced the sacked Manolo Zambrano just before the international break, would have been forgiven for thinking Marco Ruben’s stunning volley on the stroke of half-time was enough for a crucial win, but fellow strugglers Valladolid had other ideas and snatched a point thanks to Fernandez Victor in the second minute of injury time.

Recre remained in the bottom three.

Real Betis moved off the bottom with a 3-0 win at home to Real Mallorca.

Damia gave the hosts the lead in the first minute, striker Mariano Pavone added a second shortly before half-time and Achille Emana struck a third late on to wrap up a much-needed win for Betis.

Saturday’s action was dominated by the Madrid derby which was won 2-1 by Real.

Real, who have not lost a league game at the Vicente Calderon since the 1998-99 season, took a first-minute lead through Ruud van Nistelrooy but Simao Sabrosa’s 89th-minute free-kick looked to have saved Atletico.

However, Gonzalo Higuain showed nerves of steel deep into injury-time to slot home the winner from the spot after John Heitinga had brought down fellow Dutchman Royston Drenthe in the box.

Both teams played more than half the match with only 10 players after Luis Perea and Van Nistelrooy were shown straight red cards in separate first-half incidents.

In Saturday other La Liga match, Espanyol’s Raul Tamudo saw a second half penalty saved by Villarreal goalkeeper Diego Lopez in a match which finished goalless.

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Real Madrid missed the chance to move level on points with Barcelona at the top of the Primera Liga table after conceding a late equalizer to draw 1-1 at Almeria on Sunday.

Raul’s first-half header looked as if it would be enough for Bernd Schuster’s side, but Pablo Piatti shocked the champions with an 82nd-minute tally to claim a deserved point.

The point leaves Madrid in third place, two points behind its Catalan rivals, which leads the table by a point from Villarreal after beating Malaga, 4-1, on Saturday.

Xavi gave Pep Guardiola’s side the lead from a free kick after just five minutes, but Duda equalized for the hosts.

Lionel Messi restored Barca’s advantage after 18 minutes before another Xavi strike and Dani Alves’ deflected free-kick sealed the victory.

Villarreal made up for its shock mid-week thrashing in the Copa del Rey by beating strugglers Athletic Bilbao, 4-1.

Giuseppe Rossi opened the scoring in the 24th minute, but Joseba Etxeberria leveled for Bilbao just five minutes later.

However, two goals in six minutes from Robert Pires and Santi Cazorla put Villarreal in control and Cazorla added a fourth late on.

Mohamed Tchite inspired Racing Santander to a shock 4-2 victory at previously-unbeaten Valencia, who dropped to fourth.

The striker opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, but Valencia was level three minutes later when David Villa scored from the penalty spot.

Tchite restored Racing’s lead four minutes into the second half only for Valencia to pull level again through Joaquin in the 70th minute.

Ten minutes later the Belgian-Burundian completed his hat trick and a David Albelda own goal in the closing stages capped a miserable night for the hosts.

On Sunday, Sevilla threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at lowly Real Valladolid.

Valladolid substitute Fabian Canobbio was his side’s hero with a second-half brace, but it was the 34th-minute dismissal of Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano that was key to the encounter.

Sevilla was leading 2-0 through goals from Renato and Jesus Navas when Brazil international Luis Fabiano received his second yellow card for diving inside the area.

That gave Valladolid an unexpected lifeline and it duly took it, pulling a goal back just before halftime through Jonathan Sesma before Canobbio took center stage with goals in the 51st and 64th minutes.

Osasuna remained rooted to the bottom of the table after going down, 1-0, to Espanyol, Raul Tamudo with the goal.

Juan Albin struck a late equalizer to earn Getafe a 1-1 draw from its trip to Recreativo Huelva.

Third-bottom Recre had taken the lead through Javi Guerrero just after the break, but it was unable to hang on after the 62nd-minute dismissal of Iago Bouzon.

Sporting Gijon made it five wins in as many games with a 3-1 victory at home to fellow Primera Liga new boys Numancia.

Numancia took the lead through Asier Goiria’s strike in the 20th minute, but Sporting equalized just after the half-hour mark through Luis Moran and Croatian striker Mate Bilic bagged a second-half brace to seal victory.

Deportivo La Coruna recorded a 3-0 win over Real Betis thanks to a second-half strike from Ivan Riki and a late Angel Lafita brace.

Betis had Sergio Garcia sent off nine minutes from time.

On Saturday, Sergio Aguero enjoyed a starring return to the Atletico Madrid ranks with both goals in a 2-0 victory over Real Mallorca.

[Rasputin]

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1705/real-madrid/2009/01/27/1080615/champions-league-win-more-feasible-than-la-liga-success-for-real

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Ten-man Barcelona saw their lead at the top of La Liga cut to seven points as they were shocked by city rivals Espanyol while Real Madrid ran roughshod against Real Betis.

Barca's lead stood at 12 points before last weekend's 2-2 draw against Betis, but that has been nearly halved after Espanyol ran out surprise 2-1 winners at the Nou Camp on Saturday.

Former Barca player Ivan De La Pena did the damage with goals in the 50th and 54th minutes after Seydou Keita was sent off seven minutes before the break.

Yaya Toure pulled one back two minutes after the hour mark, but there was no comeback from the leaders this time.

There were no such problems for Madrid, who crushed Betis 6-1 at the Bernabeu, all seven goals coming in the first half.

Captain Raul and Klaas Jan Huntelaar both netting braces for Madrid to add to further efforts from team-mates Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Ramos.

Ricardo Oliveira had pulled a goal back for Betis, but it was nowhere near enough to deny rampant Madrid a ninth successive league win under new coach Juande Ramos.

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Atletico Madrid did arch rivals Real Madrid a huge favor with a stunning 4-3 comeback victory over Primera Liga leaders Barcelona at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday.

Atletico fought back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2, before Sergio Aguero pounced in the 89th minute to earn an unlikely victory and leave Barca with just a four-point advantage at the top after a second successive league loss.

Barca took an 18th-minute lead through Thierry Henry, and on the half-hour Lionel Messi made it 2-0.

But a stunning 25-yard strike from Diego Forlan two minutes later reduced the arrears, and Atletico was level early in the second half when Aguero fired a low shot past Valdes.

Barca was back in front in the 72nd minute through Henry. But the hosts were awarded a penalty after Florent Sinama Pongolle was fouled and Forlan converted, before Aguero drilled in his late winner.

Real Betis coach Paco Chaparro earned a stay of execution as his team fought back from two goals down to claim a vital point from a 2-2 draw at home to high-flying Villarreal.

Two Santi Cazorla goals gave the visitors a convincing lead in a thrilling encounter at the Ruiz de Lopera, before Sergio Garcia grabbed one back three minutes from the break and Ricardo Oliveira pounced shortly before the hour to grab his third in four games since his return to Betis.

The hosts move into 15th, two points above the relegation zone, while Villarreal remains fourth.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Juan Rodriguez scored a late winner at Numancia to maintain Deportivo la Coruna’s push for European football next season and put their hosts into more relegation trouble.

Real Mallorca made it three wins in a row and drew level on points with its opponents Sporting Gijon after claiming a 1-0 win at El Molinon, courtesy of Juan Arango’s free-kick.

Osasuna drew 1-1 at Racing Santander, who took the lead through Oscar Serrano before Walter Pandiani equalized.

Valencia ended a miserable week with a surprise 2-1 defeat at home to Real Valladolid.

Jose Luis Mendilibar’s men dominated the first half at the Mestalla and went into the interval two goals ahead, courtesy of an early header from Jonathan Sesma and an own goal from Raul Albiol.

The hosts did improve after the break but finished with only Carlos Marchena’s consolation to show for their efforts, despite finishing the game at a numerical advantage after Pedro Lopez was shown a straight red card.

Malaga also suffered a surprise home reverse, 2-0 in the Andalusian derby with struggling Recreativo Huelva.

Malaga began the day two points behind Villarreal, but their hopes of putting pressure on their rivals were undermined by the dismissal of Manuel Lolo after 35 minutes.

Javier Camunas then put the visitors ahead after 54 minutes and shortly after the hour Adrian Colunga scored from close range.

Two goals from Alvaro Negredo saw Almeria come from behind to beat Getafe 2-1 at home and move into the top half of the table.

Joffre Guerron fired Getafe into an early lead, but Negredo equalised after 16 minutes and struck the winner in the second half.

Real Madrid had last night recovered from their Champions League defeat against Liverpool with a 2-0 success at Espanyol to narrow the gap behind Barcelona.

In yesterday’s other match, third-placed Sevilla came from behind to beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1.

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Raul Gonzalez and Arjen Robben scored Sunday as Real Madrid beat Valladolid 2-0 to stay six points behind Spanish leader Barcelona.

Raul struck his 15th of the season in the 44th minute after splitting two defenders to direct Gonzalo Higuain's centering pass beyond goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo.

Moments after Pepe appeared to foul Valladolid striker Henok Goitom inside the area, Robben scored on a quick counterattack in the 82nd from Jose Maria "Guti" Gutierrez's long pass as Madrid overcame an uninspired performance.

Madrid barely threatened the Valladolid goal despite the return of Robben from injury and strikers Raul, Higuain and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar all in the lineup.

"It's easier to win when you're playing well than badly but there are still times when you don't play well. This was one of those times," said coach Juande Ramos, who has led the Spanish champion to 14 wins in 16 games. "The priority is the points. In our situation, there is no margin for error."

Madrid has 69 points while Barcelona has 75 after beating bottom-of-the-table Recreativo Huelva on Saturday to warm up for Tuesday's Champions League quarterfinal match at Bayern Munich where the Catalans will play with a 4-0 first-leg advantage.

Juanma Mata beat goalkeeper Inaki Lafuente in the 88th as Valencia won 3-2 against Sporting Gijon to overtake Villarreal for fourth in the table, the final Champions League qualifying place.

David Silva evaded several Sporting players before shooting through a crowd and under Lafuente in the 19th to open the scoring for Valencia before David Barral equalized from the spot in the 36th.

David Villa, whose career began at Sporting, scored his 22nd goal of the season with a penalty in the 56th, but Mate Billic took advantage of slack defending in the 71st to head home before Mata's ninth strike of the season condemned Sporting to its league-high 19th defeat.

Valencia has 49 points, Villarreal 48 and Atletico Madrid joined Malaga at 46 after Sergio Aguero and Simao Sabrosa netted in a 2-1 victory at Deportivo La Coruna.

Diego Forlan played Aguero through in the 45th and the Argentina striker flicked the ball over goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia for his 14th goal.

Simao then held off a defender to streak into the area in the 70th and beat Aranzubia to score Atletico's 4,000th league goal.

Rodolfo Bodipo pulled one back for Deportivo, which is winless in four and lies eighth with 43 points, in the 87th.

Jaime Gavilan's 82nd-minute score allowed Getafe to snap a five-game losing streak and pick up a 1-0 victory at Sevilla, which had dominated the second half before Gavilan struck on a quick counter.

Sevilla stayed third with 57 points.

Also on Sunday, it was: Racing Santander 2, Real Betis 3; Mallorca 2, Almeria 0; Osasuna 2, Athletic Bilbao 1; Numancia 0, Espanyol 0.

Achile Emana scored two goals to give Betis coach Jose Maria Nogues a victory in his first game since taking over for the fired Paco Chaparro.

The Cameroon midfielder put Betis ahead for good in the 53rd when he slid the ball under substitute goalkeeper Fabio Coltorti.

Racing was reduced to 10 men moments earlier when goalkeeper Antonio Rodriguez was red-carded for a tackle on Emana, who also scored from an individual effort in the 29th after teammate Edu Schmidt had canceled out Peter Luccin's early opener.

Nicolas Zigic scored Racing's second in the 32nd -- the Serbia striker's 10th goal since joining on-loan from Valencia in January.

Cleber Santana scored from an acrobatic bicycle kick and Chori Castro added another in injury time as Mallorca gained a valuable victory against Almeria, a potential relegation foe.

Sergio Fernandez's 80th-minute goal allowed Osasuna to join Mallorca on 35 points, five ahead of 18th-place Recreativo in the final relegation spot. Getafe, Betis, Almeria and Athletic all have 34 points.

Masoud Soleimani had put Osasuna ahead at the Reyno de Navarro stadium in the 21st before Aitor Ocio equalized with a header two minutes later.

Numancia and last-place Espanyol remained unchanged at the bottom of the standings with eight games left in the season.

Malaga beat Villarreal 2-0 on Saturday.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored on his debut Monday as Barcelona began its Spanish league title defense with a 3-0 victory over Sporting Gijon.

The Sweden striker dived low in the 82nd minute to head in Daniel Alves' deflected cross to round out the scoring.

Earlier, Bojan Krkic and Seydou Keita had also scored from headers at the Camp Nou, where the Catalan club opened its season without star forward Lionel Messi who had traveled to Argentina to prepare for Saturday's crucial World Cup qualifier against Brazil.

Keyta flicked on a corner toward the far post in the 17th minute and Krkic headed home to open the scoring. The Mali midfielder then met Alves' swinging cross in the 42nd to beat Juan Pablo with another powerful header.

"Every rival is important, so it was important to win today," Alves said.

New signing Dmytro Chygrynskiy watched on from the stands after the Catalan club completed the Ukraine defender's 25 million ($36 million) transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk earlier on Monday.

Maxwell also made his debut alongside former Inter Milan teammate Ibrahimovic, but was replaced by Eric Abidal in the 57th minute with a leg injury.

Barcelona paid 66 million ($95 million) and sent leading striker Samuel Eto'o to Inter Milan in order to bring Ibrahimovic to the Camp Nou, and it was certainly a relief to the crowd, the Sweden striker and his teammates when he opened his account.

"He just arrived, he needed to find his rhythm, know his teammates," Alves said. "But we always knew the goals would come because of his quality."

World-record signing Cristiano Ronaldo was also on target with a penalty as Real Madrid began its season with a 3-2 victory over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.

In the rest of the weekend's opening round of games, it was: Valencia 2, Sevilla 0; Racing Santander 1, Getafe 4; Malaga 3, Atletico Madrid 0; Athletic Bilbao 1, Espanyol 0; Mallorca 2, Xerez 0; Osasuna 1, Villarreal 1; Almeria 0, Valladolid 0; and Zaragoza 1, Tenerife 0.