La Liga round-up: Celta Vigo continue European charge, Mallorca win and Girona held at home | OneFootball

There were four more matches in La Liga on Saturday, with games affecting the title race, European push and relegation. Real Madrid’s victory over Villarreal was the highlight encounter, but Girona, Valencia, Real Valladolid, Celta Vigo, Mallorca and Espanyol were also in action.

Girona 1-1 Valencia

Girona’s hopes of returning to European football next season continue to look relatively bleak after another disappointing result. They were held at home by relegation candidates Valencia, who took the lead just before the hour mark courtesy of Diego Lopez’s close-range finish. The Catalans equalised soon after courtesy of Cristhian Stuani, who repeated the trick from last weekend’s draw at Espanyol.

The result sees Girona move up to 11th, although they can fall down the table again on Sunday depending on other results. For Valencia, it is a very good point, as they move up to 16th in the La Liga table.

Real Valladolid 0-1 Celta Vigo

Celta Vigo are serious contenders for the European places, and that was re-iterated with a narrow victory over relegation-certainties Real Valladolid. It was a frustrating afternoon for the Galicians, but they managed to find the breakthrough late on from the penalty spot, with Marcos Alonso finding the back of the net from 12 yards.

Celta are 8th after their victory, while Valladolid stay rooted to the bottom of the La Liga table, and they are now 11 points from safety.

Mallorca 2-1 Espanyol

It was a controversial afternoon at Son Moix, but Mallorca were left celebrating after a comeback victory over Espanyol. The visitors went in front soon after their goalkeeper Joan Garcia saved a penalty from Vedat Muriqi, with the goal being scored at the wrong end by the Kosovan striker. However, the hosts hit back soon after when Takuma Asano netted.

The winning goal came in stoppage time, and it came from the penalty spot. Initially, Garcia had saved Abdon Prats’ effort, but he was deemed to have been off his line. That allowed a re-take, which was scored by Muriqi.