BARCELONA — Ex-Italy coach Cesare Prandelli got off to a winning start in La Liga as his new valencia side triumphed 2-1 at Sporting Gijon Sunday, while Villarreal maintained its impressive opening to the season by thrashing Celta Vigo 5-0.
Former Atletico Madrid and Watford midfielder Suarez provided the ideal launch pad for Prandelli with a thumping right-foot drive to score in the seventh minute.
valencia was pegged back by Carlos Castro’s header just before halftime but retook the lead in the 65th minute when Suarez calmly turned a knockdown into the net.
The win took Prandelli’s team out of the relegation zone and up to 14th on nine points from eight games.
“What I liked most was the union, the desire to do things well and the spirit of wanting to work hard,” Prandelli told a news conference. “We played with a lot of intensity at a difficult ground against a very organised team and it was a very balanced game.”
Unbeaten Villarreal raced into an eighth minute lead against Celta when Roberto Soriano nipped in behind the defense to latch on to a pass by Manu Trigueros and tuck the ball into the far corner.
The Italy international, a 14 million euros ($15.68 million) signing from Sampdoria in the close season, scored again four minutes later by capitalizing on a stray pass from Celta goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.
Villarreal’s Cedric Bakambu marked his first start of the season since returning from injury to hit the third in the 38th and an own goal by Daniel Wass extended their lead just after the break.
Celta was unrecognizable from the side that beat champion Barcelona 4-3 last week and its misery was compounded when Sergi Gomez was sent off for a second booking in the 87th and Trigueros completed the rout in added time.
Villarreal moved up to fifth place on 16 points, level with Barcelona in fourth, while Celta is 12th on 10. Atletico Madrid leads the table ahead of Real Madrid, with both sides having 18 points after easy wins Saturday, followed by Sevilla with 17.
Earlier Sunday, Athletic Bilbao rallied from a goal down at halftime to produce a stirring home fightback in the Basque derby as it beat old rival Real Sociedad 3-2.
Athletic stays sixth with 15 points, while Sociedad has 10.
Alaves drew 1-1 at home to Malaga as a late thunderbolt from Roberto Rosales cancelled out Deyverson’s early goal in a feisty game that ended with each side having a player sent off.
Leipzig downs Wolves
In Berlin, Controversial new-boys RB leipzig are up to third in the Bundesliga after claiming another big-name scalp in Germany’s top flight with a 1-0 win at VfL Wolfsburg Sunday.
The result, a third defeat in seven games with three draws and just one win, is a disaster for Wolfsburg, which reached the Champions League’s knock-out stages last season.
It is now fourteenth, just two points from the relegation places.
Alongside leader Bayern Munich, second-placed Cologne and sixth-placed Hoffenheim, leipzig is one of the few unbeaten teams in the German league.
Earlier, Mainz moved up to seventh with a 2-1 win at home to local rival Darmstadt. — Agencies
