Valencia close in on second spot

Valencia CF maintained their magnificent form on Saturday, defeating CA Osasuna 2-0 at the Mestalla to move to within three points of the Pamplona club.

Under threat
Osasuna started the day knowing they would remain the chief challengers to leaders FC Barcelona irrespective of the result on the east coast, but ended it with their second place in the Primera División under serious threat from Quique Sánchez Flores' side, who won the game thanks to goals from substitute Mario Regueiro and in-form forward David Villa.

First goal
Regueiro came on for Vicente Rodríguez in the 22nd minute after the Spanish international caught his ankle in the turf when flashing a fine shot narrowly wide. The Uruguayan was celebrating his first league goal before the half was out, drilling a left-footed shot into the far post following a neat pass from Mista.

In-form Cañizares
The goal gave Valencia confidence, and they extended their lead in the 51st minute when Villa headed his eleventh league goal of the season following a fine cross from Miguel Angulo. Osasuna were not without chances of their own, although they found home goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares in superb form.

Atlético lose again
Elsewhere, Club Atlético de Madrid's poor run of form continued after they lost their first game under new coach Pepe Murcia 1-0 at lowly Real Betis Bolompié. Things might have been different had Martin Petrov not squandered some early Atlético chances, although Capi was not so profligate when scoring the only goal of the game for relegation-threatened Betis in the 29th minute. Atlético have not now won on their travels since 23 October and have stretched their winless sequence of games to ten.