Madrid - Villarreal continued their march up the Spanish league table on Sunday with a 3-1 home win over lowly Valladolid. The "Yellow Submarine" made a terrible start to the season but are now 11th.
Star of the show in the Madrigal was Brazilian striker Nilmar, who scored his first two goals for Villarreal. The third goal was put away by Italian forward Guiseppe Rossi.
Diego Costa pulled back a late goal for Valladolid, but it came too late to save the visitors, who are now sixth from bottom.
"We are improving match by match," said Villarreal's Rossi, "and playing with much more confidence now."
Mallorca, meanwhile, were scoring a late 3-1 win over luckless Almeria, with two goals from Gonzalo Castro.
The Uruguayan midfielder gave Mallorca the lead just after half- time. David levelled for Almeria 13 minutes from time, but Victor restored the hosts' lead right at the death - then Castro made it 3- 1.
Getafe, for their part, scored a late 2-0 win away to Espanyol, with goals from Francisco Casquero and Pedro Rios.
Sunday's other early game was a tame 0-0 draw between second-from- bottom Xerez and Sporting Gijon.
Later on Sunday, bottom team Malaga take on Zaragoza and Valencia are away to Osasuna.
Valencia will reclaim fourth place from Deportivo Coruna - 2-1 winners over troubled Atletico madrid on Saturday - if they manage to win in Pamplona.
