News Archive

First division – day 36

Rayo Vallecano and Huesca are the first two teams to be relegated after Valladolid beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 on Sunday. Waldo got the only goal with twenty minutes gone to take Sergio González’s team out of the bottom three, a point above Girona, who lost 2-0 at Getafe earlier in the day. Any remote chance Huesca had ended when they were thrashed 2-6 by Valencia in the last match of the evening, the Ches already five goals up at the break. Only three points separate five teams however, any one of which could go down, and Villarreal are still not safe after they lost 3-2 at Real Madrid, Mariano taking advantage of a rare start to score twice for Zidane’s side. .

Getafe’s victory takes them three points ahead of Sevilla in the battle for fourth place, strikes by Jorge Molina keeping their dreams of Champions League football alive. Valencia’s win (with two each from Rodrigo and Santi Mina) takes them level with Sevilla, and all three are now sure of a place in Europe, albeit that only one will play in the top competition, the other two having to make do with the Europa League. One other European spot remains for the seventh placed team, Athletic the current incumbents, but another five clubs still in with a chance, including Eibar, who beat Betis 1-0 thanks to a goal just before the break by José Angel. (05.05.19)

Rayo Vallecano are all but mathematically relegated after they lost 4-1 to Levante on Saturday, and if Valladolid pick up a point tomorrow they will down. Campaña put the locals ahead before Alberto saved a Morales penalty, and Rubén Vezo headed the second on the stroke of half time. Alvaro García got one back with twenty minutes to go, but with Rayo down to ten men, Jason and Bardhi wrapped things up near the end. Levante move on to 40 points, level with Celta, who beat a depleted Barcelona 2-0. In the middle of their Champions League semi-final with Liverpool, Valverde left almost all of his star players at home, and the locals took advantage with a Maxi Gómez strike and an Aspas penalty in the last quarter of the match. Barça of course are already sure of the league title, and Atlético Madrid still need a point to ensure second spot after they lost 3-0 to Espanyol. Godín put through his own net before the break, and Borja Iglesias scored two after the restart, the second from the penalty spot, to keep the Catalans in the race for the European berths. They are now level with Alavés and Real Sociedad in joint eighth place, the San Sebastian side catching their neighbours after a 0-1 victory in the Mendizorroza stadium. The only goal came midway through the first half when Manu García deflected a Willian José shot into his own net. (04.05.19)

Sevilla’s chances of reaching the Champions League spots took a major set-back after they were beaten 0-3 by Leganés in the Friday night game. Already fairly sure of safety, the visitors had little at stake, but goals by En-Nesyri and Braithwaite put them two up with only twenty minutes on the clock. And with eight minutes to go Oscar Rodríguez scored a third to leave the Andalusians still below Getafe pending the rest of the weekend matches. (03.05.19)