Valencia defeated Sevilla 3-1 in the Mestalla stadium on Sunday to move into fourth place in the Spanish Primera Liga.
With half of the Primera Liga program played on Saturday night, the clash between Valencia and third placed Sevilla was the pick of Sunday's matches.
It turned out to be a close fought and bad tempered affair in which referee Gonzalez Vazquez dealt out 15 yellow cards and one red card.
Sevilla opened the scoring after nine minutes thanks to Julien Escude's header from a corner.
However, the game turned around in first half injury time when Vazquez sent off Sevilla defender Adriano for a tackle from behind on Valencia's David Villa.
A minute later Valencia was level, Villa scoring a penalty after Escude's rash foul on Juan Mata.
With just 10 men on the pitch Sevilla defended well and Valencia needed another penalty to put them ahead with just seven minutes remaining. Fernando Navarro needlessly handled a cross into the Sevilla penalty area and Mata scored from the spot.
Substitute Pablo Hernandez made it 3-1 in injury time, although the margin of victory flattered Valencia.
Villarreal meanwhile slipped down to sixth place after a dull 0-0 draw away to Valladolid.
Elsewhere Almeria defeated Osasuna 2-1 to take a big step away from the relegation zone, while Espanyol got a lifeline thanks to a 1-0 home win against Racing Santander. Ivan Alonso scored the only goal of the game, although his club is still second from bottom of the table.
Finally Betis beat Sporting Gijon 2-0 thanks to two goals from Achille Emana.
Saturday saw Real Madrid and Primera Liga leaders Barcelona both win away from home as Barcelona maintained a six-point advantage at the top of the table.
Source:Xinhua
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