Sevilla and Atletico Madrid improved their chances of playing in next season’s Europa League when they beat Villarreal and Levante respectively in La Liga on Sunday to open a four-point gap from eighth-placed Espanyol.
Sevilla held on for a 3-2 win over Villarreal in an entertaining match at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, while Argentina forward Sergio Aguero struck twice in Atletico’s 4-1 win over mid-table Levante at the Vicente Calderon.
Espanyol’s miserable recent run continued when they lost 1-0 at Sporting Gijon and they stay eighth, while Villarreal remain fourth.
Photo: EPA
Ivan Rakitic stroked a free-kick into the top corner and Alvaro Negredo caught Villarreal goalkeeper Diego Lopez off his line to put Sevilla 2-0 ahead inside a quarter of an hour in the Andalusian capital.
Carlos Marchena, who was shown a second yellow card and sent off in the 85th minute, pulled a goal back 11 minutes after halftime, before substitute Ndri Romaric restored the home side’s two-goal cushion in the 62nd minute.
Giuseppe Rossi came off the bench to curl in a superb second for the visitors with about 20 minutes left and later hit the post, but Sevilla held on during a frantic finale.
At the Vicente Calderon in the earlier kickoff, Brazilian midfielder Elias fired Atletico ahead in the 19th minute when he arrowed a free-kick over the Levante wall and into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
Ecuadorian striker Felipe Caicedo leveled from the penalty-spot six minutes before the break and Aguero made it 2-1 five minutes into the second half when he pounced on a loose ball and smashed a low shot in off the post from just outside the area.
His second came from another penalty with 20 minutes remaining and Levante goalkeeper Gustavo Munua gifted the home side a fourth in the 84th minute when he fluffed an attempted clearance at a corner and diverted the ball into his own net.
At the other end of the table, Malaga took another step toward safety with a 2-1 win at Racing Santander, while Hercules secured a potentially vital 1-0 win at Deportivo La Coruna. Getafe’s woes deepened when they lost 2-0 to Real Mallorca.
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