Villarreal wins at Valencia to strengthen hold on 3rd place in La Liga

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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Villarreal eased to a 2-0 win at Valencia to reinforce its hold on third place in the Spanish league on Saturday.

Gerard Moreno and Santi Comesaña scored in the regional derby, which ended with Valencia’s frustrated fans jeering the home side.

Villarreal trails leader Real Madrid by four points and second-placed Barcelona by two before the front-runners meet in a clasico match in the capital on Sunday.

Moreno put Villarreal ahead just before halftime when he was fouled by José Manuel Copete in the area and converted the resulting penalty.

Santi Comesaña doubled the lead in the 57th minute. The midfield player pounced on the rebound when goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala saved a shot by Georges Mikautadze after the Georgia striker had sped by his marker on the left flank.

Moreno became the seventh player to make 300 appearances for Villarreal. The 33-year-old striker, who has battled injuries in recent years, also added to his all-time club scoring record with his 121st goal for the “Yellow Submarine.”

“I am proud to have played my 300th game with Villarreal and for it to be a win at such a hard ground,” Moreno said. “The penalty opened up the game and we could have scored more in the second half.”

Espanyol moved into fourth place after edging out Elche 1-0 on a day the Barcelona-based club celebrated its 125th anniversary.

New American owner Alan Pace was in the stands to enjoy Espanyol's win, which came thanks to a goal by left back Carlos Romero two minutes after halftime.

Elche, the surprise package of the season after being promoted, stayed in seventh place after its second loss in 10 rounds since returning to the top flight.

A last-gasp goal snatched a point for Real Oviedo after a wild 3-3 draw at Girona in a meeting of the two bottom clubs.

Oviedo was up 2-0 when Cristhian Stuani came on with half an hour to go and turned it around for the hosts. The 39-year-old striker scored twice either side of a goal by Azzedine Ounahi as Girona went in front.

But Oviedo’s David Carmo struck deep in stoppage time to split the points.

Girona remained in last place and Oviedo in 19th.

A goal by Getafe striker Borja Mayoral in the second half secured a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao. Getafe moved into ninth place, level on points with eight-placed Athletic.

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