Madrid, Sep 27 (DPA) Villarreal, Valencia and Barcelona all scored important wins in Spanish Primera Liga football, keeping up the pressure on holders and current leaders Real Madrid.
Real have been top of the table all season so far, but will need to beat lowly Betis Thursday – in the last game of the midweek fixtures – in order to stay ahead.
In Wednesday night’s games, Villareal won 2-0 in Racing Santander, Valencia beat Getafe 2-1 and Barcelona thrashed Real Zaragoza 4-1, Lionel Messi again scoring twice.
The results leave Villareal and Valencia level at the top with 12 points each from five games, with the former enjoying a superior goal difference.
Barcelona are third with 11 points, while Real have 10 but with the Betis game in hand.
Villarreal won in Santander with goals from in-form strikers Nihat Kahveci and Giuseppe Rossi. The hosts were crippled by the sending-off of Argentine hardman Aldo Duscher.
“We looked like a really good team tonight,” said Nihat, “but we should remember that the season has only just started.”
Valencia, meanwhile, were scoring their fourth consecutive win, 2-1 at home to Getafe, with early goals from Spain strikers David Silva and David Villa.
Braulio Nobrega pulled a late goal back for Getafe, but it came too late to save them. Michael Laudrup’s team are second from bottom with just two points.
Barcelona took Zaragoza apart with a scintillating first-half display. Messi put Barca ahead after just four minutes, with his powerful left-foot.
In the ninth minute Zaragoza midfielder Alberto Zapater levelled after being set up by Pablo Aimar. But in the very next minute Messi restored Barca’s lead with another unstoppable left-foot drive.
Andres Iniesta made it 3-1 with a left-foot shot of his own in the 21st minute, Rafael Marquez closed an electric first-half by heading in the fourth just before the interval.
Barca eased up in the second half, confident that Zaragoza would be unable to inflict any damage on them.
As against Sevilla Saturday, the Catalan outfit had not missed their Brazilian striker Ronaldinho.
The megastar missed the match with a mysterious injury in his right leg, amid rumours of depression, a wild nightlife – and a possible departure for Chelsea.
Also Wednesday, Atletico Madrid had moved up to joint fifth with a 2-0 win up in Bilbao, with goals from South American strikers Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan.
Level on eight points with Atletico are Mallorca, who came from behind to beat Valladolid 4-2, and Recreativo Huelva, who won 2-0 away to Deportivo la Coruna.
Bottom team Levante were thrashed 1-4 by Osasuna and Almeria battled out a 1-0 win away to Murcia.