Ten-man Malaga beat Sevilla 2-1 on Sunday night in a fiery Andalusian derby to leap above their local rivals into seventh position in La Liga, one point behind a potential place in next season’s Europa League.
The Brazilian centre-half Weligton and Uruguayan midfielder Seba Fernandez got first-half goals for Malaga either side of an Antonio Luna strike for Sevilla.
Malaga lost Francisco Alarcon ‘Isco’ with 12 minutes remaining for a second yellow card after a bad foul on Alvaro Negredo but held out for the win that brought to an end a run of three consecutive league defeats.
Sevilla are now six league games without a win and drop into the bottom half of the league for the first time this season.
Earlier, Valencia substitute Aritz Aduriz came off the bench to score twice and help his side earn a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Racing Santander.
Valencia remain in third position and extend the gap to five points over city rivals Levante, who earlier missed a golden opportunity to bolster fourth position when they lost 2-1 at home to Getafe.
The result means Levante remain fourth but are now level on points with Espanyol and two points ahead of Athletic Bilbao in sixth, after both teams won on Saturday.
Real Sociedad beat Sporting Gijon 5-1 in a game that opened in amazing fashion for midfielder David Zurutuza, who scored two goals in three minutes for the home team before being stretchered off in the fourth minute after a clash of heads with Gijon’s Gregory Arnolin, who also had to leave the field.
The defeat means Sporting remain in the drop zone.
Real Betis were beaten 2-1 at home by Granada, for whom Odion Ighalo and Carlos Martins bagged first-half goals, while Jonathan Pereira scored a late goal for Betis.
The result provides renewed optimism for Granada, under new manager Abel Resino for the first time, and keeps the side out of the relegation zone.
On Saturday, Barcelona dropped precious points in a 0-0 draw at Villarreal to slip seven points behind leaders Real Madrid.
Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil had scored to help Real Madrid beat Real Zaragoza 3-1 and pile the pressure on Barca.