THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID, Spain — Giuseppe Rossi and Joseba Llorente scored early in the first half to help Villarreal beat Almeria 2-1 and reclaim second place in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Villarreal’s win at its El Madrigal stadium maintained its record as the only unbeaten team in this season’s league. Coach Manuel Pellegrini’s team has won seven and drawn three of its 10 games.
Valencia rose to third place after Manuel Fernandes, Joaquin Sanchez and Vicente Rodriguez all scored in a 3-0 win at Getafe.
Barcelona leads the league with 25 points, one more than Villarreal. Valencia has 23 to be ahead of defending champion Real Madrid on goal difference.
Also Sunday, it was: Sevilla 1, Recreativo Huelva 0; Osasuna 0, Atletico Madrid 0; Mallorca 3, Athletic Bilbao 3; Deportivo La Coruna 1, Espanyol 0; Numancia 2, Real Betis 4; and Racing Santander 1, Sporting Gijon 0.
Villarreal striker Rossi unleashed a long-range shot in the opening minute, with his attacking partner Llorente meeting Robert Pires’ cross at the far post to double the home team’s lead 14 minutes later.
Almeria improved in the second half and midfielder Pablo Piatti scored from Albert Crusat’s pass to reduce the deficit in the 62nd minute.
Almeria was the last team to beat Villarreal in the league — on April 13 toward the end of last season. Since then, Villarreal has gone 16 matches undefeated.
Valencia took a 29th-minute lead at Getafe through midfielder Fernandes’ fierce, angled shot after Juanma Mata passed the ball back from close to the line.
Getafe was reduced to 10 men just before halftime when striker Roberto Soldado was sent off after a clash with Valencia captain Carlos Marchena. Soldado appeared to use his head to hit Marchena in the face.
The visitors doubled their lead in the 69th minute courtesy of a powerful volley by right winger Joaquin, with substitute Vicente culminating an incisive run with Valencia’s third 12 minutes later.
Sevilla’s Frederic Kanoute returned from injury to give his team a win after two straight league defeats.
Kanoute headed in Jesus Navas’ cross in the 63rd minute as Sevilla moved to 20 points and kept lowly Recreativo without a win since the opening round of the season.
The Mali striker squandered the chance of a second goal when his 78th-minute penalty kick was parried by Recreativo goalkeeper Asier Riesgo.
Atletico’s draw at last-place Osasuna left it with just one win in the past six league matches.
Atletico sustained an early blow with defender Luis Perea carried off the field on a stretcher with concussion following a clash of heads with Osasuna midfielder Jaroslav Plasil.
Osasuna then wasted a chance to score only its fourth goal of the season when Atletico goalkeeper Gregory Coupet stopped Javier Portillo’s penalty kick in the 20th minute.
Osasuna has gone four league games without victory under new coach Jose Antonio Camacho, who was formerly in charge of the Spanish national side.
Fernando Llorente’s injury-time goal earned Bilbao a 3-3 draw at Mallorca and prevented his team from dropping into last place.
Cleber Santana’s 12th-minute header gave Mallorca the lead with Andoni Iraola’s penalty drawing Bilbao level in the 43rd.
Mallorca’s Juan Arango then scored in the 59th and 76th minutes, with Jon Velez replying for the visitors in the 77th.
Deportivo edged Espanyol on Andres Guardado’s 38th-minute goal.
Javier Del Pino’s 28th-minute goal gave Numancia false hope against Betis, with Achille Emana equalizing for the visitors from the penalty spot six minutes later and Juanito Gutierrez and Mehmet Aurelio adding goals on the stroke of the interval.
Jose Javier Barkero fired Numancia’s second goal in the 56th, only for Mehmet Aurelio to seal Betis’ win in the 85th.
Gijon’s run of four straight wins came to an end, with its defender Diego Camacho handing the home side victory by deflecting Santander striker Mohammed Tchite’s 59th-minute shot.
On Saturday, Samuel Eto’o scored four goals to helped Barcelona thrash Valladolid 6-0, while Gonzalo Higuain also netted four times to bring Madrid a 4-3 victory over Malaga.