La Liga: Valencia beat Real Mallorca

Valencia, Spain:

Valencia moved up into fourth place in the Spanish Primera Liga standings on Sunday after they beat Real Mallorca 2-0 at the Mestalla Stadium. Claudio Ranieri's side opened the scoring on the half hour mark when Emiliano Moretti took advantage of poor marking at a corner kick to head in unchallenged from close in. Mallorca could have pulled level four minutes before half-time. Striker Andrija Delibasic beat Valencia's offside trap and rode a weak challenge from goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, but the Serbian's shot from an acute angle hit the side netting. Mallorca continued looking for a way back into the game in the second half and Ruben Baraja almost handed them the perfect opportunity. The Valencia captain was caught dwelling on the ball and Luis Garcia Fernandez took possession before heading into the penalty area. He was forced wide and the resulting cross to the far post was plucked out of the air by Canizares. Valencia doubled their lead and effectively sealed the win with another set piece. Valencia won 2-0 to keep pace with La Liga's top three sides Barcelona, Real Madrid and Espanyol, who all won over the weekend.