La Liga Table
Deportivo
0
1
Levante
Malaga
2
0
Espanyol
Racing
2
1
Real Sociedad
Hercules
0
4
Osasuna
Sporting Gijon
1
0
Almeria
Deportivo 0-1 Levante
Levante grabbed a late, late winner to snatch all three points against Deportivo La Coruna at the Riazor.
Although the first half ended in a 0-0 stalemate, Levante’s in-form Ecuadorian Felipe Caicedo had been a lively presence throughout and looked as if he might be the man to break the deadlock.
Any chance of Levante scoring appeared to depart the field with the Manchester City loanee when he was stretchered off injured in the closing minutes of the first half to be replaced by Christian Stuani.
However, Ruben Suarez had other ideas as he sent a 90th minute free-kick beyond Depor goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia to grab the win.
The defeat comes as a huge blow to Deportivo, who are in very real danger of being sucked into a relegation battle, after dropping two places to 16th.
Malaga 2-0 Espanyol
La Liga strugglers Malaga moved off the bottom of the table with an unexpected 2-0 win over Europa League hopefuls Espanyol at La Rosaleda.
Los Boquerones shocked their lofty opponents by taking an 8th minute lead through Jose Rondon. The Venezuelan international took full advantage of Jordi Amat’s failure to cut out a Recio though ball by rifling a shot into the top right-hand corner.
Then, in the 26th minute, Rondon doubled his side’s advantage when he slammed home Francisco Portillo’s low cross from close-range to score his third goal in two games.
There was no further scoring in the second half and Malaga now leapfrog both Almeria and Hercules off the bottom and into 18th place.
Racing 2-1 Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad continued their recent slump with another defeat to a relegation threatened side in Racing Santander.
After an uneventful and ultimately goalless first 43 minutes which had been stifled by Sociedad’s defensive 5-4-1 formation, the match sprung to life when Kennedy Bakirciouglu accepted a pass from Gonzalo Colsa and rifled a fantastic shot from distance into the top left-hand corner.
And just when it looked like La Real had snatched a point through Antoine Griezmann’s 72nd minute equaliser, Racing immediately retook the lead.
Mexican Giovani Dos Santos was the Verdiblancos hero, converting Domingo’s cross from the left less than five minutes after Real Sociedad had restored parity.
The Basque outfit will be growing increasingly concerned with recent results seeing then drop into the bottom half of the table.
Racing, on the other hand, will be delighted with a precious three points which could prove invaluable in their continuing fight against relegation.
Hercules 0-4 Osasuna
Hercules crashed to the bottom of the pile after in-form Osasuna subjected them to a humiliating 4-0 defeat in Alicante.
Javier Camunas fired Los Rojillos into the lead in the 10th minute with a well-taken finish after good work by team-mate Krisztian Vadocz.
Last week’s hero, Kike Sola, continued where he’d left off against Racing Santander, centering for Nelson to score his side’s second in the 35th minute after Hercules goalkeeper Juan Calatayud failed to adequately clear the danger.
The result was put beyond all doubt when, just after the hour mark, Hungarian Vadocz thundered Masoud Shojaei’s cross from the left home from four yards.
Kike Sola added a fourth six minutes later to complete a humiliating day for the home side.
The win pushes Osasuna up two places to tenth and the top half, while Hercules take Malaga’s place propping up the table.
Sporting Gijon 1-0 Almeria
Hosts Sporting Gijon secured an all-important 1-0 victory over Almeria in a relegation clash at El Molinon.
In what was an evenly balanced first half, the hosts rather crucially grabbed the opening goal after 13 minutes. Miguel de las Cuevas applied the finishing touch to a lightning break to send the home crowd into raptures.
Almeria pushed hard for an equaliser in the second, holding 54 percent of possession while firing in 12 shots on goal.
However, they only managed to hit the target with four of those efforts and the hosts held on for a victory which moves them ahead of both Deportivo and Real Zaragoza in the scramble to climb away from the bottom three place.
Almeria, however, drop one spot to 19th after Malaga’s excellent win over Espanyol.
