Betis beat Villarreal 2-0 and Osasuna secured a home victory against Real Oviedo (3-2).
Samu Costa’s Mallorca returned to winning ways in La Liga and took the opportunity to distance themselves from the relegation battle, now (provisionally) holding a four=point advantage over Valencia.
This triumph began to take shape just five minutes in, when Muriqi responded to Darder’s pass and fired the ball into the back of the net. The visitors responded three minutes later, in a high=energy start to the game. Unai Gómez appeared in the right place to finish and restore parity to the score.
Now, in this back-and-forth pattern, Mallorca took the lead again in the final minutes of the first half. Muriqi took a penalty, his shot was saved by the goalkeeper, and he scored on the rebound to make it 2-0. However, this play forced an instant reaction from the Basque side, who equalized through Nico Williams.
In the second half, Muriqi himself shone and completed his hat-trick, once again sending the home fans into raptures. On the other side, instead of a goal, Athletic Bilbao were reduced to ten men after Guruzeta received a red card.
After two consecutive defeats, Mallorca managed to win again in the Spanish League and reached 21 points, four more than Valencia, the first team in the relegation zone. The Basque team is comfortably in eighth place, with 24 points.
In the remaining matches this Saturday, Osasuna hosted and defeated Real Oviedo 3-2, in a game marked by Budimir’s brace. The visitors even took the lead first, with a goal from Vinas (40 minutes), but the Osasuna forward equalized just before halftime.
Alberto Reina put Oviedo back in the lead in the 68th minute, and Budimir added another goal in the 75th minute, restoring hope to the fans. It was in stoppage time that Muñoz secured the three points for Osasuna, who remain in the middle of the table (22 points).
In turn, Betis got the better of Villarreal , with goals from Ruibal (57th minute) and Pablo Fornals (83rd minute). Meanwhile, the visitors were reduced to ten men after Comesana received a straight red card.