Sports

Tuesday September 15, 2009

Spanish trio lead club to exciting win at Valladolid

MADRID: David Villa struck twice and David Silva and Juan Mata also scored to give rampant Valencia a 4-2 win at Real Valladolid in La Liga on Sunday.

Coach Unai Emery has managed to hang on to the gifted Spain trio despite the club’s financial woes and Valencia are increasingly looking like potential challengers to the dominance of Barcelona and Real Madrid with two fine wins out of two.

The three clubs are locked together at the top of the standings on six points.

Silva made up for his lack of height with a perfectly timed run to nod in Mata’s cross in the 10th minute before Nauzet levelled when he rammed in a loose ball after Miguel Angel Moya had parried Fabian Canobbio’s shot.

Villa, who also struck the bar, put Valencia back in front just after the half hour, turning in a Pablo Hernandez centre, and Mata raced clear to slot through the legs of Valladolid goalkeeper Jacobo Sanz just before the break.

Miguel Monteira sent Villa through on goal 10 minutes after the restart to finish low past Sanz and giant Angola striker Manucho pulled a goal back in the 66th minute.

Earlier on Sunday, Borja Valero’s free kick evaded a crowd of players and beat goalkeeper Diego Lopez to earn Real Mallorca a 1-1 draw at rain-soaked Villarreal.

In other matches, Deportivo Coruna beat visiting Malaga 1-0, promoted Tenerife scored a 2-1 home win over nine-man Osasuna and Almeria lost 1-0 at Sporting Gijon.

Champions Barcelona and Real both made it two La Liga wins out of two on Saturday.

Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one and set up Lionel Messi for a rare header in Barca’s 2-0 win at Getafe.

Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to seal Real’s 3-0 victory at Espanyol with a typical run and finish in added time after Brazilian playmaker Kaka had set up Esteban Granero and Guti.

Sevilla thumped Real Zaragoza 4-1 and Atletico Madrid were held 1-1 at home by 10-man Racing Santander.

Promoted Xerez’s first ever top-flight match at home ended in defeat when they lost 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao and had a player sent off near the end of Sunday’s late game. — Reuters

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