Dark day for Negredo as Sevilla taste Zaragoza defeat

MADRID (AFP) - – Spanish international striker Alvaro Negredo had a night to forget scoring an own goal and being sent off for violent conduct as nine-man Sevilla crashed to a 2-1 defeat at lowly Real Zaragoza on Sunday to slip out of the top four.

Negredo, a club record summer signing at 15 million euros, headed into his own net for what proved Zaragoza's winning goal on 40 minutes and got a straight red on 81 minutes for kicking out at Matteo Contini.

It was a seventh league defeat of the season for Sevilla who slip to fifth with Real Mallorca a point ahead in fourth after an impressive 10th consecutive home win as they beat Villarreal 1-0 at the Ono Stadium on Sunday.

The latest Sevilla defeat will crank up the pressure on coach Manolo Jimenez who set a top three finish and title challenge as the pre-season target.

Sevilla must pick themselves up for Wednesday's Kings Cup semi-final second leg at Getafe and they begin as favourites holding a comfortable 2-0 lead from the first leg.

Zaragoza move out of the bottom three after recording a second consecutive league win for the first time this season with Valladolid slipping into the relegation zone.

Contini put Zaragoza ahead on the half hour mark with a neat finish although there was some poor defending from Sevilla.

Sevilla responded by equalising two minutes later with Freddy Kanoute volleying in after a goalkeeping error.

The goals were flying in and Zaragoza retook the lead on 40 minutes with Negredo heading into his own net under pressure from 6ft 5in (1m 96cm) Czech defender Jiri Jarosik.

Negredo was sent off on 81 minutes for kicking Contini and there was a spate of late dismissals with Sevilla defender Marius Stankevicius and Zaragoza's Adrian Colunga issued their marching orders.

Mallorca sit a point above Sevilla after Portuguese centre-back Nunes netted on 81 minutes to maintain Mallorca's flawless home record as new Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido tasted a 1-0 defeat in his first match in charge.

Mallorca go into the Champions League spots and have a perfect 30 points at home conceding just three goals in the process.

"This was a test against a team that we have struggled against historically," said Mallorca coach Gregorio Manzano. "This was a big win for our aspirations to be high up in the table."

In other matches, Deportivo La Coruna fell two points behind Mallorca in sixth after a 0-0 draw at Malaga on Sunday.

Athletic Bilbao closed to within two points of Depor with a 3-2 comeback win over Xerez on Sunday thanks to a brace from Spanish international Fernando Llorente.

Xerez prop up the table, as they have done for virtually the whole season, and are seven points from safety.

In Sunday's other match Racing Santander will be out for revenge against Atletico Madrid who crushed them 4-0 in the first leg of the Kings Cup semi-final in midweek to put one foot in the final.

The two sides meet on Thursday for the second leg of the semi-final but for now three points in the league is the priority.

Racing are a point above Atletico in the league and the capital side are 13 points off the top four and the cup looks their best route into Europe at the moment.

At the top unbeaten Barcelona lead Real Madrid by five points after a gritty 2-1 home win over Getafe despite playing with ten men for over an hour.

Real beat Espanyol 3-0 to record their 11th consecutive home victory on Saturday courtesy of goals from Sergio Ramos, Kaka and Gonzalo Higuain.