Football
PA Sport 6y

Zaza fuels Valencia past Sociedad; Espanyol net big win over Deportivo

Striker Simone Zaza was Valencia's hero once again as he snatched victory in a five-goal thriller at Real Sociedad in which both sides were reduced to 10 men.

Zaza, who scored a hat trick in last weekend's 5-0 demolition of Malaga, struck five minutes from time after Igor Zubeldia and Geoffrey Kondogbia had been dismissed to clinch a 3-2 win as the visitors produced a stunning display of counter-attacking football.

They went ahead with 26 minutes gone when Rodrigo Moreno converted Goncalo Guedes' cross from close range, although the lead lasted just seven minutes when Aritz Elustondo powered home a header from Mikel Oyarzabal's corner.

Ignacio Vidal rounded off a swift counter-attack with a cultured finish from Carlos Soler's perfectly-weighted pass to restore Valencia' lead 10 minutes after the restart, but once again, their celebrations were short-lived as Oyarzabal levelled within four minutes.

Real's hopes of victory were dealt a significant blow when Zubeldia, who had earlier been booked for a foul, attempted an overhead kick inside the Valencia penalty area and appeared to catch defender Jose Gaya in the face.

But referee Santiago Jaime swiftly evened things up when Kondogbia, who had also already been cautioned, felled Real substitute Adnan Januzaj with a clumsy challenge to miss out on a dramatic conclusion.

Espanyol registered only their second win of the season by beating struggling Deportivo de La Coruna 4-1.

They took the lead after just five minutes when Leo Baptistao headed in a cross from Victor Sanchez. And the advantage was doubled in the 22nd minute when Depor defender Alejandro Arribas deflected a corner onto his own net.

Depor pulled one back through Celso Borges eight minutes into the second half, but Gerard Moreno made the points safe with a penalty and a late tap-in.

Getafe thrashed Villarreal 4-0 to secure their first home win of the season.

The hosts had suffered one-goal defeats to Sevilla and Barcelona at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez but got off the mark at the third attempt and ended Villarreal's four-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

Angel Rodriguez gave Getafe a 54th-minute lead when he headed in Juan Cala's flick on at the back post and -- 10 minutes later -- Jorge Molina pounced on Ruben Semedo's hesitancy to steal possession and slot past Mariano Barbosa.

Markel Bergara forced in a third in the 67th minute after Barbosa had somehow kept out Cala's close-range header and Angel nodded in his second in stoppage time from Faycal Fajr's corner.

Celta Vigo earned their first away win since April by swatting aside Eibar 4-0.

Two in-swinging Pione Sisto free kicks gave Celta a 2-0 lead, the first headed in by Gustavo Cabral in the 17th minute before Sergi Gomez got the slightest of touches on the second six minutes later.

Sisto set up a third six minutes before half-time as his left-wing cross was volleyed home by Pablo Hernandez at the back post.

Daniel Wass added a fourth 18 minutes from time after slotting in Hugo Mallo's cut-back.

Leganes ended their three-match winless run with a 2-0 victory at Las Palmas.

Claudio Beauvue finished off a counter-attack two minutes into the second half before Javier Eraso wrapped up victory in the sixth minute of added time.

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