Villarreal move clear as Madrid hit seven
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Article summary
Villarreal CF moved clear at the top of the Spanish Liga with a 2-0 victory against Real Racing Club Santander as RCD Espanyol lost to Sevilla FC but Real Madrid CF stole the limelight with a 7-1 defeat of Sporting Gijón.
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Two headers
Racing, who picked up two points from their opening three games, were outplayed by Villarreal and fell behind on 28 minutes when Ángel López's cross was headed in by Joan Capdevila. Five minutes later Ángel created another goal in similar circumstances, this time his ball turned in by Joseba Llorente. That allowed Villarreal to open up a gap at the top as Enzo Maresca and Ernesto Chevantón gave Sevilla fourth place with victory against Espanyol.
Capital celebrations
One point behind Villarreal are the two big capital rivals. Atlético won 2-1 at Getafe with two Florent Sinama Pongolle goals while Real Madrid condemned Gijón to the heaviest of their four defeats since returning to the top division. Gijón lost 6-1 at home to Barcelona on Sunday and had a sinking feeling as Rafael van der Vaart struck on 18 and 33 minutes. Gonzalo Higuaín made it three at the break before Van der Vaart completed his hat-trick at the start of the second half. Arjen Robben added another and although Kike Mateo pulled one back for Gijón, Raúl González then struck twice.
Timely Gudjohnsen
Barcelona are two further points adrift but it could have been more had Eidur Gudjohnsen not struck a late goal to secure a 3-2 defeat of Real Betis Balompié. Samuel Eto'o had made it 2-0 at the break but Fabián Monzón and José Mari pulled Betis level before Gudjohnsen turned in a Daniel Alves cross with eleven minutes left. In the night's other game RC Deportivo La Coruña drew 0- 0 at CA Osasuna, while among Thursday's four games, Valencia CF and UD Almería will hope to join Villarreal on ten points as they visit Málaga CF and Real Valladolid CF.