BARCELONA: Villar­real moved closer to securing thi­rd place in La Liga with a 1-1 draw at Real Oviedo on Thur­sday, while another defeat left Sevilla teetering on the brink of the relegation zone.

Nicolas Pepe’s first-half penalty looked to have been enough to send Villar­real seven points clear of Atletico Madrid, but Ilyas Chaira’s strike midway thro­ugh the second period ensured the spoils were shared.

Despite the result, Villa­rreal moved to 62 points and boast a five-point cushion over fourth-placed Atle­tico, who are on a four-match losing streak in the league.

Real Oviedo, who were loo­k­ing to make it three wins from three, remain bottom of La Liga, six points away from safety.

Former Arsenal winger Pepe won and converted a penalty on 13 minutes to put the visitors in front.

But Oviedo levelled in the 69th minute as Ilyas’ heavily-deflected effort left goalkee­per Arnau Tenas with no chance.

Ayoze Perez came within inches of winning it for Villa­rreal inside the final 10 minutes but his effort came off the bar and boun­ced to safety from the goal-line.

Earlier, seven-time Europa League and UEFA Cup winners Sevilla sank further into the relegation battle as they went down 2-0 at Levante.

Ivan Romero netted in the 38th minute to put the 19th-placed hosts in front, before adding a second late on to secure all three points for Levante.

Sevilla languish in 17th place, one point above Alaves in the final relegation spot.

Victory for Levante gave them hope of escaping the drop zone as they climbed to 32 points — two behind the Andalusians and safety.

Rayo Vallecano put some distance between themselves and the relegation dogfight courtesy of a 1-0 win at home to Espanyol.

Sergio Camello’s 87th-minute winner took Rayo to 38 points and 11th place, one spot ahead of the Catalans on goal difference.

On Friday, Real Madrid will look to close the gap, provisionally, to Liga leaders Bar­c­e­lona when they visit Real Betis.

Alvaro Arbeloa’s charges sit nine points behind their arch-rivals and know a victory early in the weekend’s round of matches will amp up the pressure on Barce­lona 24 hours after the news that star Blaug­rana attacker Lamine Yamal will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said on Friday that injured Yamal would return to action at the World Cup this summer with Spain, even “stronger” than he is now.

“It’s not easy this situation for us, but also for him,” Flick told reporters. “He knows it was his first muscle injury. What I can feel is that he is very focussed. He has the motivation — he is out for us, but I think for the World Cup he will be there and he will be stronger, (he will) come back stronger than now.”

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2026