La Liga round-up: 24th November 2013 - Sevilla rout Betis in the Seville derby, Valencia suffer another setback
Carlos Bacca celebrates after opening the scoring for Sevilla
Sevilla FC 4-0 Real Betis
In the highly anticipated Seville derby, Sevilla brushed aside Real Betis 4-0 to leave the visitors stranded at the bottom of the table.
Colombian striker Carlos Bacca opened the scoring as early as the second minute as he latched on to a lovely through ball from former Arsenal winger Jose Antonio Reyes to get the hosts off to a flying start at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
The match was quite evenly balanced over the next forty minutes, but then came the biggest turning point in the 42th minute. Betis defender Paulao was sent off after picking up two yellow cards in quick succession.
In the resultant free kick, Betis were made to pay as Stephane M’Bia headed in from a well-weighed Ivan Rakitic delivery. This was the Queens Park Rangers loanee’s first goal of the season.
It was all Sevilla in the second half against the 10 men of Real Betis. Vitolo added a third from a lovely lobbed pass from Bacca to put the result behind any doubt, with more than half an hour still to play.
Vicente Iborra de la Fuente was on target in the 88th minute to round off a comprehensive win for Unai Emery’s men.
With this victory, Sevilla move to 8th in the table, having earned 19 points from 14 matches. On the hand, Betis are stuck at the bottom of the table with 9 points.
Levante 0-3 Villarreal
Villarreal thrashed Levante 3-0 as they continued their impressive start to the season.
The local rivals faced off in an early kick-off on Sunday, with 7 points separating the two. Levante got off to a nightmarish start as they saw their goalkeeper Keylor Navas sent off for fouling Ikechukwu Uche in the box with just 9 minutes gone by.
Bruno Soriano made no mistake from the spot as he gave the visitors an early lead.
The Yellow Submarine kicked on from there, dominating most of game but had to wait until the 74th minute to score their second. Bruno turned creator this time, providing Uche with a lovely through ball and the Colombian striker scored the goal that gave the away team some breathing space.
Uche added insult to injury when he struck a spectacular overhead-kick to seal an easy win in the end for Villarreal.
Villarreal remain in the UEFA Champions League play-off spot and are four points ahead of fifth placed Athletic Bilbao. Levante find themselves at 12th position in the La Liga standings, and are one of four teams tied on 17 points.
Elche 2-1 Valencia
Valencia were the dominant team for most of the game but ended up ruing many missed chances as Cristian Herrera came on as a substitute and scored a late winner to give Elche an unlikely win at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero.
After a goalless first half in which Valencia failed to convert a lot of good chances, Javi Fuego missed a fabulous opportunity to put Los Che ahead in the 52nd minute as the Valencia midfielder’s header went just wide.
Just 5 minutes later, the visitors were made to paid as Spanish midfielder Fidel arrived at the far post to head Elche into the lead.
Valencia stepped it up after going behind, but weren’t able to find the back of the net until the introduction of Juan Bernat. The Spanish winger had an immediate impact as he scored within a minute of coming on to level things up.
Valencia continued to pile on the pressure after their goal, but it was Elche who’d have the last laugh as Herrara scored in the 84th minute to give the Alicante-based team all three points.
With this win, Elche move above Valencia on the basis of their head-to-head record with both teams on 17 points. There is some pressure building on Miroslav Dukic as Valencia have won only one out of their last seven league games.
Rayo Vallecano 1-4 Espanyol
Ruben Andrade fouls Sergio Garcia, the goalkeeper was sent off for the challenge
In the other game on Sunday, Sergio Garcia struck a hat-trick to inspire Espanyol to a 1-4 away victory at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas.
Rayo Vallecano started well but had little chance after their goalkeeper Ruben Martinez was sent off for brining down Sergio Garcia in the box when the score was 0-0. Garcia converted the spot-kick to give Espanyol an early lead.
Early in the second half, Anaitz Arbilla was penalised for fouling Jhon Cordoba in the penalty area to hand Espanyol their second penalty of the game. Garcia made no mistake again and the Catalans were 2-0 ahead.
The game looked lost for 10 man Rayo, but there was hope rekindled in the 83th minute when Saul Niguez headed in from a corner for the hosts. But it didn’t last long, as just two minutes later Garcia completed his hat trick to restore Espanyol’s two-goal advantage.
Christian Stuani scored another in the 85th minute to complete what was an easy win in the end for Javier Aguirre’s men.
After another weekend of La Liga action, Barcelona continue to set the pace. The Catalans lead the league table with 40 points from 14 games, having dropped just two points so far. Atletico Madrid are three adrift of Gerard Martino’s men, with city rival Real Madrid a further three points off.
Athletic Bilbao are away at Malaga later tonight, as the team from Basque Country look to cut the gap between Villarreal and them. Malaga, on the other hand, would like to ease some pressure by staying clear from the bottom six with a win.
Here are the highlights from the Seville derby: