Madrid - Sevilla jumped above Villarreal into third place in
the Spanish Liga on Sunday with a somewhat fortunate 1-0 defeat of
the 'Yellow Submarine.'
Sevilla were the beneficiaries of two crucial refereeing
decisions. Just before half-time, Renato scored the only goal despite
being offside when set up by Frederic Kanoute and Adriano.
And in the 54th minute Villarreal striker Joseba Llorente was
harshly shown a second yellow card, leaving his team with 10 men.
Sevilla should have scored more goals in the second half, but were
foiled by lively Villarreal keeper Diego Lopez.
'It was a hard game for us,' said Sevilla midfielder Aldo Duscher.
'But we showed our quality and our strengths tonight, scoring an
important win.'
Sevilla are now third, level with second-placed Valencia with 30
points from 15 games.
On Saturday Valencia came from behind to beat Espanyol 2-1. They
have a better goal difference than Sevilla.
Valencia and Sevilla are both eight points behind runaway leaders
Barcelona, who scored a late 2-0 win over historic rivals Real Madrid
on Saturday.
Their defeat in Seville pulls Villarreal - who have endured a bad
week - down to fourth, on 29 points.
Real are now fifth, on 26. In sixth place, on 24, are Atletico
Madrid, who take on Betis in Sunday's late game.
Sunday's early games had a strong significance for the bottom half
of the table.
A late 1-0 defeat away to fellow strugglers Recreativo Huelva
leaves hapless Osasuna four points adrift at the bottom.
The Pamplona side have won just one match since former Spain
manager Jose Antonio Camacho took charge in October, and they now
have just nine points from 15 games, three points less than
second-from-bottom Huelva.
'We should really not have lost this evening,' said Osasuna
midfielder Hector Font, who twice came close towards the end.
'Our plan was to get off the bottom by winning here in Huelva,' he
revealed.
Instead, Osasuna squandered their chances and lost to a late goal
from Adrian Colunga.
With just seven minutes left, he was set up down the left by Javi
Guerrero,and the youngster broke the deadlock with a powerful left-
foot drive.
The late win leaves Huelva level on 13 points with Mallorca - who
crashed 4-1 away to Getafe - and Espanyol.
Fifth from bottom, on 14 points, are Numancia, who crashed 2-0
away to Malaga. Then come Almeria and Athletic Bilbao, both on 16
points.
Almeria battled out a late 1-1 draw at home to Racing Santander,
Bilbao thrashed Sporting Gijon 3-0.
Sunday's other early game was a 3-0 cruise for Valladolid at home
to Deportivo Coruna, with handsome goals from Jonathan Sesma, Pedro
Lopez and Pedro Leon.
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