MADRID, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid recovered from their midweek Cup defeat to Leganes to take a morale boosting 4-1 win away to Valencia on Saturday afternoon.
Two first half penalties from Cristiano Ronaldo, both of which came following fouls from Martin Montoya, put Madrid in the driving seat. Although Santi Mina's 59th minute header gave Valencia hope, an 84th minute goal from Marcelo and a neat 89th minute finish from Tony Kroos sealed an important win.
Villarreal maintained the pressure on Real Madrid in the battle for fourth place as they took advantage of some shoddy defending from Real Sociedad to beat the Basque side 4-2 in the Estadio de la Ceramica.
Goals from Victor Ruiz, Pablo Fornals and Carlos Bacca put the home side 3-0 ahead after just 20 minutes. Although Diego Llorente pulled one back for the visitors four minutes later, Samu Castillejo scored a fine goal to put 4-1 on the scoreboard before halftime.
Willian Jose scored another goal for the visitors before the end, but Real Sociedad boss Eusebio Sacristan is now in real danger of losing his job after a dreadful run of results.
Deportivo la Coruna remain in the relegation zone after surrendering a 2-2 lead at home to Levante.
A win would have lifted Deportivo out of the relegation zone and they went 2-0 up in the first half thanks to Adrian Lopez and Florin Andone, although the home side were reduced to 10 men after Celso Borges was sent off for two yellow cards within 35 minutes.
Levante got an 80th minute lifeline when Ivi Lopez's shot took a slight deflection past Ruben Martinez and four minutes later he saved a vital point for Levante with a long-range shot.
Finally Jose Gonzalez's home debut as Malaga ended in disappointment as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Girona.