Valencia beat Real Madrid to go top in Spain
Valencia went to the top of the Spanish first division with a 2-0 victory over Real Madrid as Deportivo La Coruna lost their 100 percent record by going down 3-2 at Osasuna.
Valencia went to the top of the Spanish first division with a 2-0 victory over Real Madrid as Deportivo La Coruna lost their 100 percent record by going down 3-2 at Osasuna.
Valencia have 13 points from their unbeaten five games while Deportivo slip to second, one point behind.
The 2001-02 champions took the lead over reigning Spanish champions after just five minutes when Mista Ferrer put Valencia ahead against his former club when he latched onto a Jorge Lopez cross.
The hosts could easily gone further ahead shortly after but both Vicente Rodriguez and David Albelda fluffed good chances.
Real rarely threatened during the first 45 minutes and were not helped by Zinedine Zidane having one of his worst games in a Madrid shirt.
Valencia themselves had a setback when their inspirational Argentine playmaker Pablo Aimar limped off injured, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as his replacement Ricardo Oliveira sealed the triumph with the second goal after 72 minutes.
The Brazilian 's first league goal for his new club, after arriving from Santos during the summer, was stabbed in after Roberto Carlos had headed clear an initial effort from Ruben Baraja.
Osasuna had Deportivo beaten within 25 minutes after going 3-0 ahead, helped principally by the visitors' errors.
"We had five good minutes. We had luck on our side but you need that sometimes," said Osasuna coach Javier Aguirre.
Francisco Punal got the Pamplona-based side's first goal from the penalty spot on 20 minutes, after Hector Belenguel del Pino had brought down Moha El Yaagoubi.
Three minutes later, Moha's centre was fumbled by Deportivo goalkeeper Francisco Molina and the ball fell to the feet of Ibrahima Bakayoko, who laid it on for Ivan Rosado to tap into the net.
Hector's miserable night continued on 25 minutes when he headed an effort from Osasuna's Valdo into his own net.
"We have one of the best defences in the league but you didn't see that today," admitted Deportivo coach Javier Irureta.
Deportivo got one back when Albert Luque headed home a Victor Sanchez cross, taking advantage of a lax Osasuna defence.
Both sides had chances to add to their tally during the second half before Walter Pandiani got a second for Deportivo one minute into injury time, the sixth consecutive game in which the Uruguayan has scored.
The victory was Osasuna's first in the league over Deportivo in their own El Sadar stadium, despite the fact that they have lived there since 1967.
Athletic Bilbao ended Real Sociedad's unbeaten run in the Basque derby thanks to a stunning goal from Tiko Martinez nine minutes from time.
Tiko unleashed a left-foot thunderbolt from 30 metres to give Athletic a 1-0 victory in a frantic game which produced 12 yellow cards.
"Real had us worried for large parts of the game and had many more oppportunities to score," said Athletic coach Ernesto Valverde.
Celta Vigo had to come from two goals down to record their first win of the season, eventually edging visiting Valladolid 3-2.
Ariza Makukula was the man who contributed most to Celta's early misery, scoring after just four minutes and again in the 49th minute.
Jesuli Mora was credited with Celta's first after 55 minutes, although the ball took a deflection off Valladolid's Julio Cesar.
The Galicians drew level after 72 minutes through a Savo Milosevic header, before Alexander Mostovoi headed Celta's winner nine minutes later.