La Liga: Villarreal consolidate third place with derby win as Girona and Oviedo play thriller

Madrid, Oct 26 (IANS) Villarreal won the east coast derby in Spain 2-0 away to Valencia to strengthen its position in third place in La Liga and put its near neighbours into crisis.

Gerard Moreno put Villarreal ahead from the penalty spot on the stroke of halftime after he had been caught in the Valencia penalty area.

Santi Comesana doubled Villarreal's lead with a simple finish to all but assure the win against a rival that ended with forward Arnaut Danjuma injured ahead of next weekend's visit to Real Madrid, reports Xinhua.

Borja Mayoral scored from close range as Getafe frustrated Athletic Club Bilbao with a 1-0 win in the San Mames Stadium.

Getafe was the better side against a rival that looked tired after playing in the Champions League on Wednesday, with Mayoral scoring in the 75th minute.

Carlos Romero scored the only goal of the match as Espanyol won 1-0 at home to Elche to inflict only the second defeat of the season on the visiting side, which had a late flurry of chances in the closing moments of the game.

Girona and Oviedo drew a 3-3 thriller that nevertheless leaves both in the bottom two of La Liga.

Oviedo was 2-0 ahead through Federico Vinas' penalty and a goal from veteran striker Salomon Rondon, before Cristian Stuani scored the first of his two spot-kicks to get Girona back into the match.

Azzedine Ounahi then curled in a wonderful equalizing goal and then won a 90th-minute penalty for Stuani to put his side ahead in the 90th minute.

It looked as if Girona would take all three points, but David Carmo scrambled home in the 97th minute.

On Friday night, Spain international Mikel Oyarzabal scored two first-half goals as Real Sociedad eased the pressure on coach Sergio Fernandez with a 2-1 win at home to a very inconsistent Sevilla.

--IANS

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