By DPA
Madrid : Attractive Espanyol remain third in the Spanish Liga after thrashing fourth-placed Villarreal 3-0.
The handsome win Saturday leaves Espanyol with 36 points from 18 games, now four points ahead of Villarreal. All of Espanyol’s goals came in an electric first-half, when the hosts pulled apart a flat Villarreal defence.
In the ninth minute Espanyol’s Luis Garcia set up fellow Spain striker Raul Tamudo to make it 1-0 with a low right-foot drive to the far post.
The goal of the night came in the 14th minute. A free-kick from Luis Garcia hit the Villarreal crossbar, and Valdo Lopes cheekily put away the rebound with his heel.
In the 37th minute Tamudo made it 3-0 by heading in his tenth goal of the season, after the shaky Villarreal defence had failed to clear a corner.
Espanyol eased up in the second half, confident that they had already done enough to win.
Tamudo and company are now just one point behind crosstown rivals Barcelona, who earlier won 2-0 away to midtable Mallorca, with late goals from Rafa Marquez and Samuel Eto’o.
Barca are now four points behind leaders Real Madrid, who are at home to misfiring Zaragoza on Sunday.
The win in Palma will vindicate the many Barca fans who would like to see Ronaldinho sold off. The Brazilian playmaker was absent due to tendinitis in his left knee – and was not missed at all.
Mallorca looked more dangerous in the first half, with Daniel Guiza and Angelos Basinas going close.
Barca stepped up the tempo in the second half and went ahead In the 63rd minute, when Marquez headed in a near-post corner from Xavi Hernandez.
Thierry Henry came off the Barca bench a minute later and three times came close to adding a second.
Veteran playmaker Ariel Ibagaza was his lively old self for Mallorca, but the local forwards were rarely on the same wavelength as him.
In the second minute of injury time Eto’o made it 2-0 with a powerful near-post drive from outside the penalty box.
“Tonight it was really important for us to win,” Barca captain Carles Puyol told Cadena COPE, “and we deserved to do so.”