Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao had contrasting results in La Liga before their UEFA Europa League outings on Thursday when Villarreal fought back from a goal down to beat Rayo Vallecano de Madrid 2-1 and 10-man Bilbao were held to a 0-0 draw by Malaga.
Villarreal have had a poor run since they beat Atletico Madrid at the end of September, but closed to within a point of the UEFA Champions League qualification places when a second-half Cedric Bakambu brace secured a comeback victory.
Jozabed Sanchez put Rayo ahead four minutes before halftime at El Madrigal, before Bakambu struck in the 69th and 86th minutes to give Villarreal only a second victory in their past eight outings in Spain’s top flight.
Photo: EPA
At the San Mames, Bilbao were reduced to 10 men in the 19th minute when midfielder Mikel San Jose was shown a straight red card for lashing out at Malaga forward Charles.
The struggling Qatar-owned club, who are hovering just above the relegation zone, could not make their numerical superiority count, while Bilbao missed a chance to climb above RC Deportivo de La Coruna into sixth place.
With 14 matches played, Villarreal are fifth on 24 points, one behind fourth-placed RC Celta de Vigo. Bilbao have 21 points in seventh, one behind Depor.
“We had to win at all costs,” Villarreal midfielder Denis Suarez told Spanish television. “They are a vital three points as we have been on a very bad run and we are very pleased. We maintained our intensity, we attacked and kept pushing, and we are still up there near the top and some of our direct rivals did not win this weekend.”
It was a morale-boosting success for el Submarino Amarillo ahead of Thursday’s Europa League Group E match at Viktoria Plzen.
Villarreal are already through to the round-of-32 of Europe’s second-tier club competition and can make sure of top spot in the group with a win in the Czech Republic.
Bilbao have secured top spot in Group L ahead of their game at home to Dutch side AZ.
“Before the match our goal was to win, but the way the game went with the dismissal of Mikel, playing so many minutes with 10, we can be thankful,” Bilbao defender Carlos Gurpegi told Spanish TV.
Real Sociedad continued their revival under new coach Eusebio Sacristan and climbed to 13th earlier on Sunday when an Imanol Agirretxe brace gave the San Sebastian-based club a 2-1 comeback win at home to Basque rivals Sociedad Deportiva Eibar, who are ninth.
In a clash of two promoted sides, Real Sporting de Gijon beat 10-man UD Las Palmas 3-1 thanks to a hat-trick from 19-year-old Paraguayan forward Antonio Sanabria, a graduate of Barcelona’s youth academy who is on loan at the Asturian club from Serie A side AS Roma.
Gijon moved up to 14th, while Las Palmas are second from bottom, level on 10 points with Levante UD, who were due to travel to RCD Espanyol yesterday.
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