Fernando Morientes scored twice and Roberto Ayala added the other goal to help Valencia beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 and climb into third place in Spanish league soccer on Saturday.
Miguel "Mista" Ferrer scored for Atletico, which stayed in fifth place after suffering only its second defeat in nine matches on the road this season.
In other games, Sergio Garcia scored twice to lead sixth-place Zaragoza over Espanyol 2-1 and Deportivo La Coruna beat Mallorca 1-0 on Fabian Estoyanoff's penalty.
PHOTO: AP
Veteran Argentine defender Ayala crowned Valencia's bright start at its Mestalla stadium when he jumped to power home a header from David Villa's corner in the 15th minute.
Valencia, already subjected to fierce Atletico tackling, had a scare when goalkeeper Santiago Canizares took several minutes to recover from a collision with teammate Raul Albiol just before the interval.
Valencia's worries were calmed by a second goal in the 54th minute, Morientes culminating a counterattack by sliding in to meet a low cross from the left by Vicente Rodriguez.
Mista, who joined Atletico from Valencia in the offseason, reduced the deficit two minutes later with a low drive from the edge of the area. But Morientes again capitalized on Vicente's pass to score in a near-replica of his first goal.
Zaragoza followed Wednesday's victory over Barcelona in the first leg of a Copa del Rey quarter-final with a win that boosted its hopes of a European place next season.
Both sides lacked their most creative players -- Zaragoza's Pablo Aimar was injured, while Espanyol's Ivan De La Pena was suspended.
Zaragoza striker Garcia's first goal for the visitors came in the 55th minute when he collected Oscar Gonzalez's pass and side-footed an angled shot.
Moments after Espanyol's Luis Garcia equalized in the 86th, his Zaragoza namesake doubled his tally from Ewerthon's low cross to win his side three points.
Deportivo's win over Mallorca maintained its unbeaten start this year, an eight-match run which included Wednesday's 4-1 win over Valladolid in the first leg of a Copa del Rey quarter-final.
The home side's winning goal came on halftime when Estoyanoff converted his spot kick, awarded after Jordi Lopez fouled Deportivo striker Javier Arizmendi.
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