La Liga week 21 recap: Sevilla held to a draw at Valencia 

Valencia frustrated Sevilla’s plans to move closer to Real Madrid, holding the visitors to a 1-1 draw. 

Los Che snapped their two-match La Liga losing run with a gritty stalemate against the visiting Andalusians, which were without manager Julen Lopetegui owing to his coronavirus-related isolation. 

Sevilla got themselves ahead just seven minutes in, when Gonzalo Montiel’s cross was turned in by Mouctar Diakhaby onto his own net. 

José Gayà had his 14th-minute strike ruled out for offside, but he turned provider for Gonçalo Guedes a minute before halftime, the Portuguese striker neatly heading home the cross coming from the left wing. The Valencia skipper was sent off in the penultimate minute of normal time for his second bookable offence. 

The draw was a huge dent for Los Palanganas, which could have been two points behind the leaders but instead settled for a four-point gap with both sides having already played 21 matches. 

Real Betis extend Alavés’ woes with beatdown 

Third-ranked Real Betis had a football clinic of sorts, tearing down relegation-threatened Deportivo Alavés with a 4-0 whitewash. 

After knocking out archrivals Sevilla at the Copa del Rey, Manuel Pellegrini’s Verdeblancos swept their season’s fixtures with the Vitoria-based outfit, moving them closer to Champions League football. 

Borja Iglesias nodded one home at the 11th minute from a Sergio Canales cross, the latter turned goal scorer in the 18 minutes later with a left-footed rocket. Celebrating his 29th birthday a day earlier, “Panda” completed his double four minutes before halftime by pouncing on Matt Miazga’s errant backpass. 

Juanmi capped off the rout with a cheeky lob over Fernando Pacheco at the 54th minute, after he was picked out by a magnificent through ball by midfielder Nabil Fekir. 

Betis snapped their three-match winless run in league competition, while the winless drought continues for Alavés, extending to eight matches in all competitions. 

Getafe snap Granada’s streak in six-goal shootout 

Getafe and Granada turned up the heat at the Alfonso Pérez in a six-goal shootout, the home side prevailing, 4-2, to leapfrog idle Mallorca at 16th. 

It was a much-needed return to their winning ways for Quique Sánchez Flores and his Azulones, as they snapped their victim’s seven-match unbeaten run at La Liga with four different goal scorers to negate Luis Suárez’s brace. 

Former Barcelona player Sandro fired the hosts ahead at the 10th minute from outside the box, but the Colombian equalized from close range three minutes later. 

The second half belonged to Getafe, as Enes Ünal put them ahead for good three minutes after the restart. Midfielder Nemanja Maksimović then made it 3-1 at the 63rd. 

After Suárez pulled one back at the 78th minute mark, Borja Mayoral put the match away three minutes before full time.