Alvaro Negredo struck in stoppage-time as stuttering Valencia won 2-1 against his former club Sevilla on Sunday to earn coach Pako Ayesteran victory in his first home game in charge since succeeding Gary Neville.
Villarreal improved their chances of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in five years by beating relegation-threatened Getafe 2-0, while Athletic Bilbao won 1-0 against Rayo Vallecano de Madrid and RC Celta de Vigo beat Real Sporting de Gijon 1-0.
Daniel Parejo’s deflected free-kick in the 41st minute opened the scoring for Valencia, who had not won in La Liga since March 2, but Kevin Gameiro leveled with four minutes remaining.
Photo: AFP
However, Negredo restored the home side’s advantage a minute into stoppage-time, denying former Valencia coach Unai Emery a happy return to the Mestalla.
“The players, club and fans showed responsibility throughout the week. The victory belongs to all our supporters, our fans were incredible today,” Ayesteran told a press conference. “We aren’t fighting for the league, we’re fighting for a dignified end to the season and it’s difficult, so I’d give a 10 out of 10 to my players, and 11 out of 10 to the supporters.”
Fourth-placed Villarreal beat struggling Getafe to move on to 60 points, eight above fifth-placed Celta, their nearest challengers for Champions League qualification.
Photo: EPA
A brilliant piece of skill and a low finish into the bottom corner from Denis Suarez put Villarreal ahead in the 15th minute.
Top-scorer Cedric Bakambu bundled the ball in from close range for his 19th goal of the season in all competitions with five minutes remaining to seal the win.
Getafe, who are without a win in the league since Jan. 17, slumped to a 10th defeat in 12 games.
Bilbao responded to their UEFA Europa League quarter-final first-leg defeat to Sevilla on Thursday last week by beating struggling Rayo thanks to a goal by Inaki Williams.
The 21-year-old rattled a shot from the edge of the penalty area in off the crossbar in the 61st minute to put Athletic ahead, although Rayo had the better chances over the 90 minutes.
In the day’s early kickoff, Celta boosted their hopes of qualifying for Europe by beating Sporting 1-0 thanks to a solitary strike in the 64th minute by Spain international Nolito.
Nottingham Forest FC are to go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros TC on Thursday, while Celtic FC secured their place in the knockout phase with a victory over FC Utrecht. Aston Villa FC finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured. Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches, but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way. Sean Dyche’s
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
BATTERED AND BRUISED: Alcaraz suffered a cramp in the third set, but was allowed treatment despite Zverev’s protests, and continued on to win in five-and-a-half hours An ailing Carlos Alcaraz battled past Alexander Zverev yesterday in five epic sets to reach his first Australian Open final and move within a match of becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. The world No. 1 outlasted the German third seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 over a titanic 5 hours, 27 minutes in hot conditions to head to tomorrow’s title match. He only narrowly avoided crashing out after a huge fright at 4-4 in the third set when he pulled up in pain with what appeared to be cramp. He was allowed to have treatment
RSS