La Liga week 11

Sevilla FC moved into the top half of the Spanish Primera División in style on Saturday, defeating the leaders Real Madrid CF 2-0 to the delight of new coach Manolo Jiménez.

Best form
Appointed as a replacement for Juande Ramos last Saturday, Jiménez started with a 3-0 win at Valencia CF before going down 4-3 at Club Atlético de Madrid on Wednesday. Yet again, though, Sevilla saved their best form for the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán as Seydou Keita, with his first league goal since his summer move from RC Lens, and Luis Fabiano scored within the space of two first-half minutes against the champions.

Keita strike
Keita was the first to make his mark, beating Iker Casillas with a superb half-volley from 25 metres in the 18th minute. Madrid were stunned, and were undone again soon after as Frédéric Kanouté showed tremendous skill to bring down a long ball and unleash a shot which Casillas saved. Luis Fabiano was first to the rebound and drilled it in for his sixth goal in four league games. Madrid's former Sevilla favourite Sergio Ramos then was sent off in the 51st minute.

Morientes double
Valencia also have a new coach following the sacking of Quique Sánchez Flores, although Ronald Koeman was only in the stands as the east-coast club defeated RCD Mallorca 2-0. Fernando Morientes scored both goals, the second a lovely finish from David Silva's fine pass. The home side threw everything forward to try to rescue the match but Timo Hildebrand thwarted late efforts from Daniel Güiza, Juan Arrango and Héctor Berenguel.

Words of praise
Valencia's caretaker coach Óscar Fernández said: "My team responded extraordinarily well to the challenges this game threw up. I only have words of praise for everyone especially for their part in the last 25 minutes of the first half when we played with order, concentration and with everyone perfectly placed on the pitch. My first line of defence was Fernando Morientes and my last was Timo Hildebrand."

Frank Rijkaard conceded that second-from-bottom Real Valladolid CF were "a very strong side on their own turf" after FC Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw at the Estadio Municipal José Zorrilla on Thursday night.

Smart equaliser
Barça lost ground on Primera División leaders Real Madrid CF as struggling Valladolid made life uncomfortable for them. Joseba Llorente put Los Pucelanos into the lead with a 16th-minute strike but Ronaldinho finished smartly just before half-time to secure a share of the points for Rijkaard's team. The result leaves Barça second in the table, level with Villarreal CF on 21 points but four points adrift of Madrid.

Coach disappointed
"Out on the pitch you can't say anything about quality if you don't work as hard as your opponents," said the Dutch coach. "When you say that [defender Gabriel] Milito and [goalkeeper] Víctor Valdés were our best players that says it all. Valladolid demonstrated that they are a very strong side on their own turf. In the second half they worked better as a team than we did." RCD Espanyol drew 0-0 against Real Murcia CF in the night's other game.