Villarreal moved back into the top two of La Liga on Sunday with a 2-0 home win over struggling Real Valladolid at El Madrigal.
Villarreal had lost their last two league matches against Sevilla and Almeria, but Manuel Pellegrini's men got their season back on track against Valladolid thanks to a goal in each half from Nihat Kahveci and Santi Cazorla.
That win was enough to see the Yellow Submarine replace Barca in second spot following the Catalan side's goalless home draw with Espanyol on Saturday night.
Nihat gave Villarreal a 15th-minute lead, but the home side might easily have been two or three goals down by that stage following a blistering start by relegation-threatened Valladolid.
Winger Sisi Gonzalez had his side's first chance after the ball fell kindly to him in the box, but his header lacked the power to beat Villarreal goalkeeper Sebastian Viera.
Viera, who was in for the suspended Diego Lopez, was then beaten in a race for the ball with Joseba Llorente, but the Uruguayan international custodian did well to recover and block the Valladolid striker's attempted cross.
Llorente should have given Viera no chance soon after though as he ghosted in unmarked at the far post to latch onto Sisi's cross, but the highly-rated forward was unable to keep his shot on target at full stretch.
Valladolid's profligacy returned to haunt them as Villarreal scored with their first decent effort of the match.
Nihat picked up a pass from Cazorla in the right channel, before cutting inside marker Alexis Suarez and smashing a rising shot past Sergio Asenjo from a tight angle.
That was Nihat's 15th goal of the season, and the ever-dangerous Turkish international almost made it 2-0 after being put through by Cazorla, but Asenjo managed to get enough of his body in the way to stop Nihat's shot.
Nihat then blazed a 25-yard free-kick just over, before turning provider to set up Cazorla for Villarreal's second goal at the start of the second half.
The striker stole in behind the Valladolid defence on the right before drawing out Asenjo and then sliding the ball across to Cazorla, who had the simple task of tapping into an empty net.
That left Valladolid with a mountain to climb to get back into the match, but they refused to give up and the unmarked Victor should have done better with one effort before the unlucky Llorente sent another far-post volley wide when a goal looked certain.
At the other end, Villarreal midfielder Marcos Senna could have made it 3-0 after fashioning a shooting chance on the edge of the Valladolid box, but Asenjo was equal to his left-footed drive.
The game continued to flow from one end to the other and Valladolid substitute Bartholomew Ogbeche had a great chance to set up a grandstand finish, but he somehow managed to volley over from close range in the 89th minute as Villarreal held on for a potentially crucial three-point haul.
SOURCE :WIRES
