Big day for basement teams in Spain
Villarreal got their first away victory in 25 attempts and Espanyol had their best win for nearly 15 months as teams in the Spanish first division basement showed that they had some fight left on Sunday.
Villarreal got their first away victory in 25 attempts and Espanyol had their best win for nearly 15 months as teams in the Spanish first division basement showed that they had some fight left on Sunday.
Villarreal won 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao thanks to a Francisco Farino strike after just four minutes.
It was the first goal for the former Spanish international - who arguably had become the forgotten man of Spanish football - after his arrival on loan from Inter Milan at the end of last month.
Farinos, still only 24, failed to break into the Inter first team following his 18-million-euro move from Valencia in 2000, but he is hoping that his cut-price stint at Valencia's near neighbours will encourage a Spanish first division club to give him a permanent position.
He showed that he still has plenty to offer with a blast from the edge of the box that got Villarreal three vital points that helped them edge clear of the congested relegation zone.
Relegation-threatened Espanyol got their second win in their three games since former Spanish national coach Javier Clemente took charge with a 3-0 victory over Racing Santander.
Toni Soldevilla got the Barcelona-based side, who are so strapped for cash that wages payments are several months in arrears, off to a flying start with a header after seven minutes.
Second half goals from Raul Tamudo and savo Milosevic completed the welcome win for Espanyol, although they remain in penultimate place in the Spanish first division.
Bottom club Recreativo Huelva could not quite emulate their fellow strugglers and had to settle for a point after a 0-0 draw against Sevilla but it was a change of direction for Spain's oldest club side after three successive losses.
At the other end of the table, Real Betis must have thought that they had three points in the bag when Joquin Sanchez scored a minute into injury time to give them a 2-1 lead over Alaves.
However the Basque visitors salvaged a point two minutes later thanks to Jesus Turiel.
Betis had taken the lead two minutes before half time when Fernando Fernandez had headed home a Joaquin cross but Magno Mocellin equalised for Alaves just after the hour.
Nevertheless the point moves Betis up a place to fifth in the Spanish first division.
They overtake Celta Vigo on goal difference after the Galicians lost 1-0 at home to Real Madrid on Saturday.
Real Madrid now lie second in the Spanish first division with 36 points from 17 games, one point behind league leaders Real Sociedad who drew 2-2 at Valencia on Saturday to maintain their unbeaten record.
Sociedad came from two goals down to hang onto first place thanks to late goals from Darko Kovacevic and Nihat Kahveci.