Valencia win to keep pace with La Liga leaders

Nov 22, 5:12 pm EST

* Valencia comfortably see off Osasuna 3-1 in Pamplona

* Nilmar double spurs Villarreal revival in 3-1 win

(Recasts after Osasuna v Valencia, adds byline)

By Mark Elkington

MADRID, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Valencia swept aside Osasuna 3-1 away with a trio of impressive goals to move back into the Champions League places in La Liga on Sunday.

Spain striker David Villa set them on their way with his ninth of the campaign, acrobatically prodding home Carlos Marchena’s lob over the defence in the 12th minute.

David Albelda and then Marchena both scored from outside the area with superb shots, and Osasuna, although they pulled one back through Masoud midway through the second half, finished in disarray with nine men on the pitch.

Unai Emery’s well-organised side climbed up to fourth with 24 points from 11 games, pushing Deportivo Coruna down to fifth on 22. Depor overcame struggling Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Saturday.

Real Madrid replaced Barcelona at the top of La Liga on Saturday after Gonzalo Higuain scored in a 1-0 home win over Racing Santander, moving them on to 28 points.

Champions Barca were held 1-1 at Athletic Bilbao and have 27 points, two ahead of third-placed Sevilla, who beat promoted Tenerife 2-1 away.

Earlier, Real Mallorca maintained their 100 percent record at the Ono Estadi with a 3-1 victory over Almeria, but it needed two late strikes from Victor and Gonzalo Castro, who bagged his second of the game, to secure all three points.

Mallorca are sixth with 20 points.

Brazil striker Nilmar scored twice to lead Villarreal to a 3-1 home win over Real Valladolid that moved them up to 11th with 12 points.

The in-form Nilmar, who scored in Brazil’s recent friendlies against England and Oman, headed the opener after seven minutes and looped in a second header just after the re-start.

Italy’s Giuseppe Rossi made it 3-0 before Diego Costa pulled one back for the visitors, but Ernesto Valverde’s side continued their steady climb up the table after being rooted to the bottom last month.

(Writing by Mark Elkington, editing by Justin Palmer and Pritha Sarkar; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

((madrid.sports@reuters.com; +34 91 585 2161; For Reuters sports blog Left Field go to http://blogs.reuters.com/sport))

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Updated Nov 22, 5:12 pm EST
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90 Comments

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  1. <i>masoudansari33</i>
    90. Posted by masoudansari33 Sun Nov 22 2:15am EST

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    hi every one!
    I'm a persian boy & love the laliGa!!
    I wish real can win in this reason. $$$
  2. Reza
    89. Posted by Reza Sun Oct 25 7:12pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    C. Ronaldo is a great, but a snob and I dont care that much that I should cry baby about it....and you all are real soccer freaks, who I bet not that good at playing a real soccer game. With all your theories, dumb analysis, pointless worshipping and overrated comments....nothing but a loosers with slow feets. The only ball that you can handle is right beneath your small useless weiner which you jack it off while watching a soccer game. So just shut up all your meaningless complaints...and please by all means do yourself a favour...GO OUT AND PLAY A R.E.A.L SOCCER IN ORDER TO EQUAL YOUR MOUTH. what? what...what ur lookin at? wanna play? GOOD! haha...suckers.
  3. Ricky
    88. Posted by Ricky Sun Oct 18 1:50pm EDT

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    Cristiano isn't the only player in Real Madrid. -_-
  4. Semy S
    87. Posted by Semy S Tue Oct 6 2:03pm EDT

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    ronaldo didn't play, of course madrid lost! they're not gonna lose anymore after he gets back!
  5. Henry
    86. Posted by Henry Tue Oct 6 11:36am EDT

    Report Abuse

    ronaldo is the best
  6. <i>ecko0572</i>
    85. Posted by ecko0572 Tue Oct 6 6:28am EDT

    Report Abuse

    Madrid forgot to buy some defenders.
  7. BarcaMANU
    84. Posted by BarcaMANU Mon Oct 5 9:17am EDT

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    It's the same this time - barca the champs of la liga 2009/10
  8. OOC
    83. Posted by OOC Mon Oct 5 1:05am EDT

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    people are acting like its a really big upset with sevilla over real madrid

    if u know anything about la liga u know its not,

    sevilla are a great team this year and have won 7 in a row in all competitions.

    watch out for them making a run into the champions league semis,

    i culd see barcelona, real madrid,sevilla, and chelsea as the final 4 this year

    the epl is down in talent and performance this year.

    and my barca will get 5 or 6 tittles including the cl and la liga
  9. gibol
    82. Posted by gibol Sun Oct 4 9:44pm EDT

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    hi to all football fans....
    i was born to be man u fan..
    in 2008 man u won EPL and CL where they beat barcelona in semi, so we man u fans can talk anything we want, im sure man u fans enjoy it bcoz that year is ours...
    in 2009 barcelona won trble, beat man u in the final of CL, so barcelona fans can talk anything too....

    so, to the fans of other club, wait ur club won the CL in 2010 and talk anything u want..
    gud luck...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  10. Sashy
    81. Posted by Sashy Sun Oct 4 9:11pm EDT

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    To Post 31.
    You english fans always like to brag about the EPL. Don't get me wrong, I like to watch the EPL as there are some entertaining games. But to say Barca has no competition is crap. If Chelsea is so good, how come they can't beat Man U? As a matter of fact, they even lost to Wigan.

    Each league has its own style of football, so watch what you enjoy. We will see who wins when they meet in CL.
  11. Marcio
    79. Posted by Marcio Sun Oct 4 8:46pm EDT

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    You know........you soccer fans out there should watch the brazilian league.........that`s a real soccer.....every we develop the players un the world and every year we lose half of them to clubes all over the world...and you know what........the style and the flavor of the beautiful game stay the same......because year after year we develop great soccer players....simple the best in the world......kaka..robinho..luis fabiano..pato..renato..grafite..daniel carvalho..adriano..ronaldo..ronaldinho..julio cesar..juan..lucio..andre santos..i could stay here all day naming names...but is easy if you just watch the brasileirao.....then you know what i`m talking about it.........got it............
  12. LM
    78. Posted by LM Sun Oct 4 7:44pm EDT

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    I like Real Madrid. but I am so happy they lost. It just goes to show money can't buy a perfect winning team. Of course people looking for an excuse will whine 'Oh but ronaldo wasn't playing...if we only had ronaldo...' he's one guy with an ego, doubt he would have made a difference. Happy for Sevilla; they showed that hopefully it won't just be a two team race.

    And Post # 76, I so agree!

    This is great for Barcelona! WHoo go Barca! Mes que un club!!!!
  13. G. L.
    77. Posted by G. L. Sat Sep 26 9:21pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Weligton is a dirty piece of excrement. He is lower than the the lowest piece of whale feces in the deepest part of the sea. la liga should review the tapes and suspend that f'ing a@@hole for multiple games. It's been a long time since i've seen such blatant, dirty, cheap, cowardly shots at other players. It's players like him that take the sport to a lower level and I hope he suffers an excruciating, career ending injury. It's not like he just lost his temper in the heat of a play, he maliciously went out to hurt players.
  14. <i>panjialmighty</i>
    76. Posted by panjialmighty Sat Sep 26 3:34pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    If Real Madrid wins anything this season, it means that they won it with money, not by nurturing players like their main rival, Barcelona.
    From what i've seen, apart from Guti, Cassilas and Raul, both of which played sparingly these days, none of Madrid's players are nurtured there.
    I'm not saying they all should originate from the academy, i just wish they didn't just try to buy instant success like Chelsea and Manchester City.
    Barcelona has Valdes, Pique, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Bojan, Serqio Busquets and a bunch of others waiting in line from the Barca academy utilized into their great attacking system. All nurtured and grown in Barcelona.
    A prime example is Samule E'too. This prolific striker was formerly a Madrid player but they didn't (or couldn't) nurture him as a player, so they had to loan him to Mallorca and then ended up in Barcelona.
    Boy, i'm sure they regretted THAT decision.
  15. <i>mr_tony_pl</i>
    75. Posted by mr_tony_pl Thu Sep 24 12:25pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    pay near 400 millions euros but win only 2 goals poor real madrit.real madrit will be bankrupt next year.ronaldo no. 0 when play agaist barca.i love fat ronaldo he is true forward ,RONALDO LUIZ NAZARIO is no.1 ,"@#$%" ronaldo cr9 is bad player of year
  16. [ S W A G G ]☜↵⚡☠✯[ YEP DATS M E ]..WATS D0P3?
    74. Posted by [ S W A G G ]☜↵⚡☠✯[ YEP DATS M E ]..WATS D0P3? Thu Sep 24 11:39am EDT

    Report Abuse

    Barcelona made their player, they didnt by them. Barcelona is a smart club because most of their players were from thier youth team or they got them when they were young with potential. more money in barca's pocket plus orignal players= best team in the world=)
  17. BarcaMANU
    73. Posted by BarcaMANU Thu Sep 24 9:58am EDT

    Report Abuse

    Barca is the BEST SOCCER TEAM (with 5 trophies to bag) and MESSI is the UNDOUBTED BEST SOCCER PLAYER RIGHT NOW!!!
  18. Henry
    72. Posted by Henry Thu Sep 24 9:14am EDT

    Report Abuse

    manchester are up for the league again; who said when ronaldo is off manchester will fall is a lie the red devils are for live so wait and see the result of this SEASON.......UP MANCHESTER UNITED........
  19. <i>galesitelesego</i>
    71. Posted by galesitelesego Thu Sep 24 8:20am EDT

    Report Abuse

    Real madrid is the best team in the world. ronaldo and kaka you are hot guys
  20. ahmed
    70. Posted by ahmed Thu Sep 24 7:48am EDT

    Report Abuse

    I like Messi and crestiano ronaldo

    but crestiano from now and on he is gonna score at the 5 first mins



    BUT still BARCA IS THE BESTttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.

    and @#$% chelsea i hate drogba
  21. <i>eonemenust</i>
    69. Posted by eonemenust Thu Sep 24 7:45am EDT

    Report Abuse

    barca, MU, Chelsea, Liverpool, semuanya tedong... sekarang waktunya baga REal Madrid Untuk unjuk gigi..... Madridistas
  22. ahmed
    68. Posted by ahmed Thu Sep 24 7:44am EDT

    Report Abuse

    I like
  23. Elikin
    67. Posted by Elikin Thu Sep 24 3:40am EDT

    Report Abuse

    barca is the best,real fans can just s*ck onaccomplishments.haterssssssss
  24. kid sensation
    66. Posted by kid sensation Thu Sep 24 2:47am EDT

    Report Abuse

    Messi and Ibra are on fire right now.Cr9,what can I say?7 goals in 5 games(2 in the CL).My top 3 for player of the year at the end of last season was 1.Messi 2.Iniesta 3.Gerrard.Right now I still think Messi is the best,but at this rate Ronaldo can probably crack the top three.Also he's been the most consistent in the last three seasons.Go U.S.A!!!
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