Lacklustre Villarreal draw Racing Santander
Posted February 27, 2011 3:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID, Spain — Substitute Nilmar scored an injury-time equalizer as a lacklustre Villarreal managed a 2-2 draw at Racing Santander in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Brazil striker Nilmar jumped toward goal to help nudge a deflected corner kick over the goal line in the second minute of injury time after Giovani Dos Santos’ 68th-minute goal had appeared to give Santander a third straight win since coach Marcelino Garcia Toral’s arrival.
Pedro Munitis found Dos Santos in stride and the Mexico forward shot low past goalkeeper Diego Lopez, who made a number of important saves as Villarreal salvaged a point at El Sardinero Stadium.
Ariel Nahuelpan gave the hosts the lead after just three minutes when the Algerian striker raced into the area to head Pablo Pinillos’ centring pass into goal.
Lopez denied Nahuelpan’s point-blank header and was saved by the striker’s poor finishing in the 50th after he chipped over the Villarreal ‘keeper but the attempt went wide.
Villarreal laboured to a Europa League win over Napoli on Thursday and the team appeared drained from that physical match as it struggled to find its rhythm with Cani’s shot on goal its only attempt of the first half.
Substitute Marco Ruben pulled Villarreal even after guiding Jose Manuel Catala’s cross into goal with a 66th-minute header.
After Dos Santos replied with his first Santander goal, both Lopez and Villarreal goalkeeper Antonio Rodriguez made saves down the stretch before a frantic finish paid off for the visitors, who still slipped to a fourth domestic game without a win.
Villarreal is one point behind third-place Valencia, which played Athletic Bilbao later Sunday.
Valencia is third — 13 points back of Madrid. Espanyol is fifth ahead of Bilbao.
Earlier, Felipe Caicedo scored the winner as Levante beat Osasuna 2-1 for its fourth win in five games.
The Ecuador striker took advantage of goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez’s hesitation in the 50th minute for his 10th goal of the season.
Walter Pandiani headed Osasuna ahead after 41 minutes before Sergio Ballesteros struck the equalizer three minutes later at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium.
Levante moved one point above Osasuna — which hasn’t won away in more than one year — and three clear of Zaragoza, which occupies the last relegation place.
Also, Getafe drew 0-0 at Hercules, which has one win in its last six to sit two points above Zaragoza.
Lionel Messi scored his league-leading 26th goal Saturday in Barcelona’s 3-0 victory at Mallorca, which stretched the two-time Spanish champion’s lead in the standings to seven points after Real Madrid drew 0-0 at Deportivo La Coruna.
The 25th-round of games ends Monday when Almeria plays Malaga in a match-up of the bottom two.
In Saturday’s other games, it was: Espanyol 4, Real Sociedad 1; Atletico Madrid 2, Sevilla 2; and Sporting Gijon 0, Zaragoza 0.
