Spanish Primera Division report: Sevilla too good for Villarreal

Sevilla made it two wins in four days over Villarreal as they won 2-0 at El Madrigal.

Unai Emery's side moved four points behind fourth-placed Atletico Madrid and six clear of Villarreal in sixth courtesy of second-half strikes from Coke and Vitolo.

The victory caps a fine 10 days for Los Rojiblancos at Villarreal's expense after they secured a 5-2 aggregate triumph over Marcelino Garcia Toral's side in the Europa League round of 16 - with wins in both legs.

The Yellow Submarine came out in determined mood, no doubt desperate to exact some sort of revenge, and zipped the ball around well in greasy conditions.

Giovani dos Santos had the first sight of goal in the match, but the former Tottenham man was unable to find the target with his curled free kick in the third minute.

Sevilla were looking the more jaded out of the teams after their midweek exploits, but Carlos Bacca soon inspired them into the ascendancy.

The Colombian striker was alert as Mateo Musacchio made a mess of a clearance header, but with Bacca bearing down on goal Musacchio recovered well to clear the danger his mix-up had created.

Bacca was unlucky to see a dipping shot drift just over the bar after 20 minutes and then forced a great reaction save out of Villarreal keeper Sergio Asenjo from a corner.

The hosts came back in an entertaining end to the half, with Dos Santos and on-loan Arsenal man Joel Campbell both having half-chances, but it remained goalless at the break.

Sevilla emerged strongly after the interval and Diogo Figueiras' wonderful invention down the right led to the deadlock being broken after 49 minutes.

He picked up the ball in the box and kept Villarreal's scampering backline guessing before finding Sevilla skipper Coke in space with an exquisite back-heel that the former Rayo Vallecano man routinely slid home off the far post.

Villarreal once again upped the ante in response to the goal, but they had very few clear-cut opportunities to go along with their possession and were made to pay with 25 minutes remaining.

Vitolo, who was recently called up to the Spain squad, gave a masterclass in composure as a hopeful Coke cross from the byline sailed over everyone to find him in space fairly central on the edge of Villarreal's area.

Instead of wildly thrashing it goalwards, like so many players would, he calmly side-footed it into the bottom right corner on the volley with such precision that Asenjo had no chance.

With Emery's charges happy to protect what they had, the hosts tried in vain to force their way back into the contest, with Gerard having their best chance in the 87th minute but his low drive from close range cannoned back off a post.

It was somewhat harsh on the hosts, who played some very good football at times, but they are now four games without a win in all competitions.