Villarreal 3 - Sevilla 2

Villarreal: Viera; Angel, Fuentes Cygan, Capdevila; Marcos Senna, Josico (Mavuba 43'); Cani (Mati Fernández 60'), Nihat (Tomasson 74'), Pires; Guille Franco. 4-2-3-1.
Sevilla: Palop; Daniel Alves, Mosquera, Dragutinovic, Casado (Martí 48'); Jesús Navas, Poulsen, Keita, Adriano; Luis Fabiano (Kerzhakov 77'), Kanouté (Renato 46'). 4-4-2.

Team changes: Villarreal: Cygan, Josico, Nihat for Godín, Bruno, Rossi / Sevilla: Mosquera, Casado for Fazio, Crespo.

Goals:
1-0. 30. Guille Franco. Got ahead of Palop to head Senna free kick into net.
1-1. 34. Kanouté. From close up after Luis Fabiano crossed in from right.
1-2. 50. Luis Fabiano. Whipped shot past keeper after corner not cleared.
2-2. 67. Guille Franco. Angled header across keeper from Senna free kick.
3-2. 85. Mati Fernández (penalty). After Fernández himself tripped by Mosquera.

Villarreal took advantage of Barcelona's slip the day before to move back up to second after beating Sevilla 3-2 in the last match on Sunday evening. Guille Franco went close a couple of times before he got on the end of Senna's free kick to head the home side into the lead on the half hour mark. But Kanouté levelled the scores just four minutes later after Poulsen and Luis Fabiano combined to set him up.

Just a minute before the break Sevilla were left with ten men when Daniel Alves picked up a second booking for cutting out a cross with his arm. But five minutes after the restart Luis Fabiano put the visitors ahead, whipping a shot past Viera after the ball fell to him following a corner. Jesús Navas could have increased the lead when he hit the post with the keeper beaten, but eventually the extra man took it's toll, and Franco made it all square again with another header from another Senna free kick.

After that Villarreal pushed forward looking for the winner, and Palop had to be at his best to keep out Franco on two occasions and Pires in between. But with five minutes to go Mosquera produced a clumsy challenge on Mati Fernández, and the Chilean forward drove home the resulting penalty. Nerves started to fray and the game finished with bad feeling on both sides, but Pellegrini's side had the win and they stay just a point behind leaders Real Madrid.