Valencia improve their home form and stay third

Valencia scored their third straight home win on Saturday, 2-0 against lowly Valladolid, with first-half goals from Ever Banega and David Villa, dpa reported.

The pleasant win leaves "Los Ches" in third place with 42 points from 21 games, six points above Sevilla and eight above Mallorca and Deportivo Coruna.

"We are improving our home form," said Valencia veteran David Albelda," adding that was "important if we want to finish high up in the table."

Albelda had warm words of praise for Villa, who is now level in the scorers' chart on 15 goals with Lionel Messi of Barcelona.

"He is a great striker," said Albelda, "and he just seems to get better every season."

Another Valencia player who is improving is Banega, who might just snatch a place in Diego Maradona's Argentina World Cup squad.

The little playmaker opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a powerful drive, after a mistake from Valladolid midfielder Haris Mendunjanin.

And on the half hour Banega set up Villa to make it 2-0 with an agile diving header.

Valencia eased up in the second half and played on the break. However, Valladolid never looked capable of turning things around and it was a poor debut for new coach Onesimo Sanchez, who took over from Jose Luis Mendilibar last Monday.

Valladolid are fourth from bottom and in big trouble.

Later on Saturday, twin giants Barcelona and Real Madrid should have few problems against midtable sides Getafe and Espanyol.

For the first time all season, Barca - who are five points above the whites - have no injuries or suspensions. Real, in contrast, will again be without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo.