Late goal sinks Sevilla

Mallorca’s defender Ayoze Diaz tugs at the shirt of Sevilla’s French defender Mouhamadou Dabo [AFP]

Two late penalties helped Espanyol to a 3-0 home win over promoted Hercules which lifted them to fourth place in Spain’s Primera Division on Sunday.

Sevilla missed out on the chance to replace them in the Champions League qualification places when they fell to a late Pierre Webo goal and went down 2-1 at home to Real Mallorca.

Barcelona-based Espanyol moved on to 22 points from 12 games, two short of third-placed Villarreal, who drew 1-1 at home to Valencia on Saturday.

Real Madrid top the standings with 32 points after a 5-1 thrashing of Athletic Bilbao on Saturday when Barcelona moved on to 31 points with an 8-0 demolition of Almeria.

Valencia are fifth with 21, Sevilla sixth with 20 and Mallorca seventh on 18.

Perfect record

Espanyol maintained their 100 percent home record after Joan Verdu finished off a swift counter-attack from a Hercules corner in the 15th minute at Cornella-El Prat.

Results

Saturday November 20  Villarreal 1-1 Valencia  Almeria 0-8 Barcelona  Real 5-1 Athletic Bilbao Sunday November 21  Deportivo 3-0 Malaga  Espanyol 3-0 Hercules  Levante 3-1 Racing  Osasuna 1-0 Sporting Gijon  Sevilla 2-1 Mallorca  R Sociedad 2-4 Atletico

Argentine striker Pablo Osvaldo doubled the lead from the penalty spot ten minutes from time when Hercules goalkeeper Juan Calatayud brought him down for a penalty to earn a red card.

Luis Garcia converted a second penalty at the end.

Sevilla fell behind at the Sanchez Pizjuan when Michael Pereira netted at the near post on a counter-attack in the 36th minute.

The hosts gradually came back and Brazil striker Luis Fabiano looked to have grabbed a point when he struck two minutes from time but Mallorca’s Cameroon striker Webo rose to head the winner at a free-kick on the stroke of fulltime.

Elsewhere, Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini’s winning start at Malaga came to an end with a 3-0 defeat at Deportivo Coruna.

Ecuador striker Felipe Caicedo scored twice as Levante climbed out of the relegation places with a 3-1 win at home to Racing Santander, and Osasuna beat Sporting Gijon 1-0 at home.