The odds on Valencia retaining their Spanish league title lengthened on Sunday after the reigning champions went down 3-1 at local rivals Villarreal.
Villarreal’s Argentine international Juan Roman Riquelme was the man who did the damage with a hat-trick.
”Two goals in the first half were the key to our victory, but overall we were the better side, especially in the way we controlled the rhythm of the game,” said Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini.
”This is a victory to savour. We played well against difficult opponents who we knew was not going to make life easy for us.”
Riquelme got the opener from the penalty spot after 17 minutes and then added a second a minute before half-time, going past two Valencia defenders before finding the net.
Valencia fought back and hit the bar twice from efforts by Pablo Aimar and Stefano Fiore, but eventually they had a goal three minutes into injury time, with Aimar scoring from the spot after Gonzalo Rodriguez had brought him down.
However, it took just a few seconds for Riquelme to restore Villarreal’s two-goal advantage with another penalty.
Straight from the kick-off, Villarreal rushed down the field, which caused Carlos Marchena to panic and bring down Santi Cazorla in the box.
”We knew Villarreal were on form and they proved it again,” said Valencia coach Claudio Ranieri after his team’s first defeat in 11 games.
They remain third but are now 12 points behind runaway league leaders Barcelona, who beat Racing Santander 3-0 on Saturday with goals from Samuel Eto’o, Ronaldinho and Deco.
”We are back to playing at a good level. There was nothing lucky about this victory,” said Barca coach Frank Rijkaard.
The win, which means that Barca have been undefeated in their Nou Camp stadium for a calendar year, helped extend their lead to 10 points lead over arch-rivals Real Madrid.
Sevilla maintained their ambitions of a place in the Champions League with a 2-0 win at struggling Albacete to move them up to fourth.
Brazilian international Renato opened the scoring for the visitors after 36 minutes, sending home a hard and low shot from the edge of the area.
Antonito Ramiro then added Sevilla’s second from close range, two minutes into injury time at the end of the first half.
”This was a game we had to win after two consecutive defeats against teams well down the table. This result will give us a big boost,” said Sevilla coach Joaquin Caparros.
Espanyol slipped back a place to fifth after they were thrashed 4-1 at Deportivo la Coruna.
Deportivo took a 2-1 lead into the break and extended their advantage just after the hour when Diego Tristan scored from the penalty spot, after being hacked down Espanyol’s Mauricio Pochettino.
The challenge earned the veteran Argentine defender a red card and, down to 10 men, Espanyol were on the back foot for the remainder of the match.
Juan Carlos Valeron headed home a Pedro Munitis free-kick 10 minutes from time to complete Deportivo’s quartet of goals.
”This has to be our worst game of the season. There was a big difference between us and them,” said Espanyol coach Miguel Angel Lotina.
Malaga escaped from the relegation zone after a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid, the only goal of the game coming from Juan Rodriguez eight minutes from the whistle.
However, the plight of bottom club Numancia worsened with a 4-0 thrashing at Real Betis, whose quartet included a brace from Brazilian sharp-shooter Ricardo Oliveira, who took his tally for the season to 11. — Sapa-AFP