First Division - Day 34

Villarreal 0 - Sevilla 2

Villarreal: Diego López; Ángel, Gonzalo, Godín, Capdevila; Eguren (Mati Fernández 77'), Bruno; Cani, Nihat, Ibagaza (Pires 62'); Llorente (Rossi 62'). 4-2-3-1.
Sevilla: Palop; Konko, Squillaci, Escudé, Fernando Navarro; Adriano, Duscher, Renato (Dragutinovic 88'), Perotti (Jesús Navas 60'); Luis Fabiano (Maresca 78'), Kanouté. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Villarreal: Godín, Ibagaza for Fuentes, Pires / Sevilla: Konko, Squillaci, Luis Fabiano for David Prieto, Romaric, Jesús Navas.

Goals:
0-1. 58. Luis Fabiano. Picked up Kanouté pass and shot wide of Diego López.
0-2. 85. Kanouté. Headed on Renato's lifted pass and drilled shot past keeper.

Yellow cards: Llorente 43', Squillaci 43', Konko 58', 72', Palop 80', Godín 83', Navarro 93' / red cards: Konko 72'.

With the first two positions decided, the battle is on for the two remaining places in next season's Champions League. And Sevilla consolidated third spot with a 0-2 victory over Villarreal on Saturday evening, a first win for Manolo Jiménez's side after a run of four defeats in a row.

A victory for the locals would have taken them above the Andalusians, and they had the best chance of the first half when Nihat's wide free kick bounced off the crossbar. But a few minutes after the restart Kanouté set up Luis Fabiano to open the scoring with a shot low past the legs of Diego López.

Palop did well to push away a shot from Eguren, and Sevilla seemed to be up against it when Konko was sent off for a second bookable offence. Nihat should have increased the lead when he headed a cross from Angel wide of the target when unmarked in front of goal, but a few minutes later Kanouté surprised Diego López with a powerful shot from outside of the area, and it was all over.