Villarreal stumble in Champions League race

Valencia are strong favourites to finish third and earn a place directly into the Champions League group stage following a 0-0 stalemate between Mallorca and Villarreal on Sunday. A brace from Roberto Soldado and a Jonas Goncalves goal had given Valencia a 3-0 win over Real Sociedad Saturday and they are now five points clear of Villarreal, who failed to shake off the fatigue after their fruitless 3-2 Europa League semi-final second leg win over Porto on Thursday. Mallorca started the brighter but Giuseppe Rossi hit the post on the counter attack. After the break Nilmar for Villarreal and Pierre Webo for the home side had shots well saved before the game petered out into a draw. Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido blamed his side\'s sluggish performance on tiredness \"We had little time to recover and it was clear in the second half that we were not at our best but the team battled well against a side who were very motivated,\" he said. \"We can say that we have got a point which takes us closer to a place in the Champions League although obviously a win would have been better.\" Later on Sunday Barcelona will look to retain their eight point lead and take a step closer to the league title when they take on derby rivals Espanyol after four goals from Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid crush Sevilla 6-2 on Saturday. Real may have been reeling from their Champions League semi-final exit at the hands of Barca but they hit back against Sevilla with Ronaldo leading the way and in the process overtaking Lionel Messi as the league\'s top goal scorer with 34. It leaves the Portuguese four short of the record by Athletic Bilbao\'s Telmo Zarra and Real\'s Hugo Sanchez in the 1950-51 and 1989-90 seasons respectively.