Villarreal needed a stoppage-time penalty from Giuseppe Rossi to salvage a 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijon on Sunday as they lost ground on La Liga leaders Real Madrid.
Italy international forward Rossi, 23, celebrated his 100th league appearance for Villarreal by converting a spot-kick in the dying seconds for his sixth league goal of the season to cancel out Diego Castro’s 68th-minute opener.
Third-placed Villarreal extended their unbeaten league run to eight games, but fell three points behind pacesetters Real Madrid and two behind Barcelona in second.
“We deserved to win when you look at the game as a whole,” Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido said. “Sporting have a good coach and good players, and it is never easy to win here.”
In other matches, Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at home to strugglers Almeria and lie down in sixth ahead of next weekend’s derby against leaders Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Argentine Sergio “Kun” Aguero put Atletico in front on 33 minutes, but compatriot Pablo Piatti leveled for the visitors on the stroke of halftime.
Atletico had no response and the draw means the Europa League holders have taken four points from the last 12 in the league and lie nine points behind city rivals Real.
Colombian defender Luis Perea sustained an injury against Almeria that is set to rule him out of the Madrid derby and coach Quique Sanchez Flores cursed his side’s injury woes this season.
“It has been like that all season. First it was Aguero, then [Diego] Godin twice and now Perea,” Flores said. “Nevertheless, Atletico have very good players to go to the Bernabeu in good shape.”
Earlier on Sunday, Deportivo La Coruna finally recorded their first win of the season and did it in style with a 3-0 home victory over Espanyol at the Riazor.
Goals from Adrian Alvarez and centerbacks Alberto Lopo and Diego Colotto helped Depor to their maiden win and moved them off the bottom of the table at the expense of winless Real Zaragoza.
Athletic Bilbao defeated Getafe 3-0 at San Mames in Sunday’s late match, largely thanks to early goals from Andoni Iraola and Mikel San Jose in the first 12 minutes. Bilbao go above Getafe into eighth after their fourth win of the season.
Also on Sunday, Real Sociedad picked three points with a 2-1 win at Malaga, while Racing Santander thrashed Osasuna 4-1 at El Sardinero.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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