La Liga Round-Up: RCD Mallorca in dire straits as Sevilla, Espanyol and Alaves secure safety | OneFootball

A round-up of the nine games that took place simultaneously on Sunday night, with results that put RCD Mallorca in major trouble, and saw the likes of Sevilla, Espanyol, Athletic Club and Alaves secure survival.

Levante 2-0 RCD Mallorca: Mallorca in grave danger, Levante on the brink of salvation

The first half got underway with Levante pushing for the opener, but it was a giveaway from David Lopez to Carlos Espi that brought the first goal after half an hour. He only had to pass the ball around Leo Roman after intercepting the pass. Mat Ryan then made two excellent saves from Sergi Darder and Zito Luvumbo to keep it level coming into the break.

Mallorca tried to push for the equaliser, but couldn’t fashion chances. With five minutes to go, Johan Mojica and Roger Brugue got into a spat in the box, and both were sent off after a VAR review. Any chance of that helping Mallorca was ended just two minutes from time though, with Kervin Arriaga heading home a corner to make the points safe.

Image via Ana Escobar EFE

The result makes it six wins in nine for Levante, and a ninth goal in 12 games for Espi. It means that for the first time in 25 matchdays, Los Granotas will finish the weekend out of the drop zone in 15th, two clear of Girona before they face Betis away. They are all but safe – Levante would have to lose to Betis, and see Girona beat Elche, and Mallorca failto beat Real Oviedo at home. RCD Mallorca replace them in 19th spot, and are three points from safety. They need to beat Real Oviedo at home, and must hope Osasuna lose to Getafe and Elche lost to Girona.

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Girona: Griezmann signs off with assist, Girona are now win or go down

Girona had an early chance to take the lead, but Bryan Gil could not convert Joel Roca’s cross from close range. Naturally, Antoine Griezmann on his 500th appearance, his last at home for Atletico Madrid, racked up his 100th assist for Ademola Lookman to give the home side the lead. Jan Oblak then made a good save from Viktor Tsygankov, with Girona taking the game to their hosts.

In the second half, Girona had pressure and chances, but could not beat Oblak, who made an excellent stop from Azzedine Ounahi, and Cristhian Stuani fluffed a stoppage time effort over the bar. For Atletico, the win moves them level on points with Villarreal in third. If they secure a draw against the Yellow Submarine, they will finish above them.

The Catalan side’s equation is simple. If they beat Elche at home at Montilivi next week, then they will be safe. Any other result will see Eder Sarabia’s side safe. Currently they lie 18th, two points behind Levante, Osasuna and Elche.

Osasuna 1-2 Espanyol: Osasuna play with fire, Espanyol reach safety

In an even game, it required a brilliant strike from Carlos Romero into the bottom right corner to open it up. Los Pericos went into break under pressure though, and just after it, Victor Munoz unleashed his own vicious shot from outside the box, beating Marko Dmitrovic low in the left corner. Four minutes later, in the 52nd minute, Tyrhys Dolan got free on the right side of the box, and picked out Kike Garcia in the six-yard box. He had time to take a touch and poke home, declining to celebrate against his former club. Despite dominating the ball and the statistics, Alessio Lisci’s side were left without an equaliser.

It means that Osasuna must avoid defeat to Getafe in order to survive. Should they lose, Los Rojillo would go down if Mallorca beat Oviedo and Levante lose to Real Betis, based on a three-way head-to-head record. Manolo Gonzalez can finally sleep well. Following 18 Liga games without a win, Los Pericos put two in a row together, and are up to 11th with 45 points, five clear of the drop. They face Real Sociedad next week in a dead rubber.

Elche 1-0 Getafe

Elche made all the early running against Getafe, but only when Victor Chust approached a ball at the edge of the box and thundered it into the roof of the net did they have reward. Just five minutes before the break, Dakonam Djene was sent off for a rash challenge on German Valera.

That significantly hindered Getafe’s attempts to find an equaliser in the second half, and they failed to force any mistakes from the home side. Valera hit the post late on in a counter-attack, but the game faded out with no significant incident, much to the delight of the Martinez Valero.

They go to Girona next week knowing that anything but defeat will be sufficient for survival, currently in 17th, two points ahead of the Catalans. Los Azulones know that they have a faint shot of beating Celta Vigo to 6th and a Europa League spot, if they beat Osasuna, and the Galician side lose to Sevilla at home. However if they do not win at the Coliseum, it opens the door for either of Valencia or Rayo Vallecano to overtake them and get into the Conference League. In Rayo’s case, a draw would be sufficient against already safe Alaves.

Real Oviedo 0-1 Alaves

Real Oviedo went down in the first half to a Toni Martinez goal, bundled in from close range after good work from Abde Rebbach down the left. The away side did little thereafter in the first half, but this result was enough for the Basques. That showed in the second half, with Oviedo unable to do enough with the ball to break down an Alaves defence that did not allow a shot on Antonio Sivera’s goal.

The result means Alaves are safe for another season. Sitting 14th, they lie three points above the drop, but by virtue of their head-to-head record with Girona, are mathematically guaranteed their spot. Los Babazorros host Rayo Vallecano next week. Real Oviedo, already relegated of course, are away to RCD Mallorca.

Sevilla 0-1 Real Madrid

Real Madrid picked up back-to-back wins at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, and despite losing, Sevilla sealed their place in La Liga for another season. Read the full match report here.

Athletic Club 1-1 Celta Vigo

Athletic Club failed to secure victory in Ernesto Valverde’s final home match as manager, while Celta got the result needed to seal European qualification. It was the visitors that made a fast start at San Mames, and Ilaix Moriba pounced on an error from Mikel Jauregizar to allow Williot Swedberg to open the scoring.

Athletic fought back in the second half, with Inaki Williams turning home Yuri Berchiche’s cross on 52 minutes to level the scores. Los Leones would then push hard for a winner, but in the end, it failed to come – meaning they are all-but guaranteed to push outside of the European places. As for Celta, they require a point against Sevilla next weekend to secure Europa League football for the second season in a row.

Real Sociedad 3-4 Valencia

The pick of the matches on Sunday was undoubtedly Valencia’s remarkable comeback victory over Real Sociedad. Aihen Munoz opened the scoring for the home side after only three minutes, but this was cancelled out soon after by Javi Guerra. Los Che would then go 2-1 courtesy of a Hugo Duro volley, but goals in the 60th and 63rd minutes from Cesar Tarrega (OG) and Orri Oskarsson had the hosts back in front.

To make matters worse, Eray Comert was shown a red card soon after following a foul on Pablo Marin, but incredibly, the 10 men battled back to win in stoppage time after goals from Guido Rodriguez and Guerra. As a result, Los Che can still finish in the European places if they defeat Barcelona next weekend, but La Real cannot improve on the Europa League spot they already secured via winning the Copa del Rey.

Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Villarreal

Rayo sealed an important three points on the day Vallecas said goodbye to club captain Oscar Trejo. Sergio Camello got the ball rolling on 28 minutes with the opening goal, and this was added to by Alemao, who struck two minutes into the second half to continue his impressive recent form.

Rayo are 8th ahead of facing Alaves away next weekend, and they must better Getafe’s result in order to qualify for next season’s UEFA Conference League – although they would go into the Europa League if they defeat Crystal Palace in a couple of weeks. As for Villarreal, they stay 3rd on goals scored ahead of hosting 4th-placed Atleti at La Ceramica in their final match.