THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID, Spain — Villarreal beat last-place Recreativo Huelva 2-1, and 10-man Valencia recovered to defeat Real Betis 3-2 as both teams moved ahead of injury-ravaged Real Madrid on Sunday in the Spanish league.
Spain winger Santi Cazorla and Ariel Miguel Ibagaza scored first-half goals at the Nuevo Colombino stadium for Villarreal, which improved to 28 points and trails leader Barcelona by four. Valencia is alone in third place with 27 points after Ruben Baraja scored the winner with a 73rd-minute header as Valencia blew a two-goal and overcame the 63rd-minute ejection of Carlos Marchena.
Barcelona beat Sevilla 3-0 on Saturday to improve to 32 points — six better than Madrid, which lost several more of its international players to injury in a 3-1 loss at Getafe.
Diego Forlan scored two goals and set up the other two as Atletico Madrid rallied for a 4-1 victory against 10-man Racing Santander to stay sixth.
Bartolome Marquez was the third manager fired this season after Espanyol lost its fourth straight, falling to Sporting Gijon 1-0.
Also Sunday, it was: Almeria 0, Deportivo La Coruna 1; Valladolid 3, Mallorca 0; Malaga 4, Osasuna 2; and Athletic Bilbao 2, Numancia 0.
Villarreal came into the match with several injuries, and striker Jozy Altidore used a rare start to trouble the Recreativo goal early.
Cazorla scored his fourth goal of the season in the 27th minute after his long shot deflected through the area and left goalkeeper Asier Riesgo without a chance. Ibagaza swung his free kick from outside the area inside near post in the 45th as Villarreal rebounded from its first league defeat since April.
"We won despite our injuries and that, to me, is the most important thing to take away," Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini said.
Adrian Colunga scored Recreativo’s goal in the 83rd from the penalty spot.
Valencia took command at the Mestalla with early goals by two Spain internationals — David Villa and Juanma Mata.
Villa volleyed home Edu Gaspar’s flicked-on cross in the 10th minute for his 12th goal of the season. Mata strode into the area in the 20th before pulling back to beat Casto Espinosa with a hard shot inside the near post.
But Valencia’s concentration disappeared after the break and Betis took advantage to rally. Renan Soares continued to have trouble covering the short side as the Valencia goalkeeper somehow let Juanma Gomez’s low shot slip by in the 56th.
Raul Albiol cleared off the line in the 63rd but Marchena had hauled Sergio Garcia down inside the area, with Achille Emana stepping up to score the penalty a minute later.
Baraja then turned Manuel Fernandes’ free kick in at the near post in his 300th league game.
Valencia, which snapped a two-game home losing streak, next travels to Barcelona.
Madrid faces fifth-ranked Sevilla next Sunday before a trip to Barcelona.
At the Vicente Calderon, Simao Sabrosa started Atletico’s rally in the 21st minute after controlling from Forlan to score with a half-volley shot.
Racing, which had struck in the seventh through Mohammed Tchite’s penalty, had Cesar Navas sent-off in the 31st for a high tackle. Three minutes later, Forlan played Sergio Aguero down the left and the Argentina striker slotted a right-footed winner under goalkeeper Antonio Rodriguez for his first league goal in nearly a month.
Forlan capped off a week that saw Atletico qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League by scoring off a Racing giveaway in the 77th and then adding his second with a header four minutes later.
Deportivo, coming off a 3-0 UEFA Cup win over Feyenoord, improved to 21 points thanks to Joan Verdu’s 75th-minute goal.
Verdu collected his own rebound to score with a high shot after having hit the underside of the crossbar from the penalty spot eight minutes earlier.
Almeria played with 10-men from the 52nd after Alvaro Negredo was red-carded for an errant elbow. It was the Almeria striker’s second ejection this season.
Jose Garcia Calvo scored in the 29th before second-half goals from Angel Vivar Dorado and Henok Goitom ensured Valladolid won its third straight to improve to 19 points. Mallorca, which is winless in six, saw defender David Navarro taken to hospital with a head injury.
Malaga blew a two-goal lead before rallying behind late goals from former Spain international Albert Luque and Eliseu Pereira dos Santos to secure victory at La Rosaleda.
Antonio "Apono" Galdeano’s 56th-minute penalty sparked Malaga, with Nabil Baha heading in Adrian Lopez’s cross at the far post in the 62nd.
Javad Nekounam scored in the 79th and Miguel Flano added another a minute later to even it before Luque scored from a solo run in the 84th. Eliseu added the fourth in injury time as Osasuna stayed second from the bottom.
Bartolome Marquez may have coached his last game with Espanyol after Carmelo Gonzalez’s goal caused the 17th-place Barcelona club to lose its fourth straight. Espanyol also lost leading striker Raul Tamudo to injury.
"Let’s not talk about my future because it’s not in my hands," Marquez said. "We’re not as bad as we appear."
At the San Mames, Fernando Llorente continued to display the impressive form that earned the 23-year-old striker a Spain call-up earlier this month by scoring two goals within 31 minutes as Numancia replaced Athletic in the relegation zone.