Madrid beats Valencia 1-0 in Spain

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Gonzalo Higuain scored early to give Real Madrid a 1-0 victory over Valencia on Saturday, bringing Juande Ramos his first Spanish league win since taking over as coach of the defending champions.

The win at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium ended Madrid's run of three straight losses and moved it up to fifth place with 29 points, nine less than leader Barcelona, which visits Villarreal on Sunday.

Ramos was taking charge for the third time since replacing the fired Bernd Schuster on Dec. 9 to become Madrid's eighth coach in 51/2 years. His team beat Zenit St. Petersburg 3-0 in the Champions League on his debut before losing to Barcelona 2-0 last weekend.

Valencia, which lost captain Carlos Marchena to a red card in the 66th, dropped to third place after only its second away loss of the season. The first came against Barcelona.

In Saturday's late game, Atletico Madrid leapfrogged Valencia into second place after beating Espanyol 3-2 for its fourth straight win.

Maxi Rodriguez scored twice and Sergio Aguero added another as Atletico stretched its unbeaten streak in all competitions to 15 games.

Barcelona has 38 points, while Atletico, Valencia and Sevilla have 30, one more than Real Madrid and Villarreal.

On Sunday in the last games of the year, it's: Mallorca vs. Sevilla; Osasuna vs. Getafe; Deportivo La Coruna vs. Recreativo Huelva; Numancia vs. Valladolid; Racing Santander vs. Malaga; Sporting Gijon vs. Almeria; and Real Betis vs. Athletic Bilbao.

Madrid, which will be without Ruud van Nistelrooy, Mahamadou Diarra and Ruben De La Red for the rest of the season, was also without injured Pepe, Gabriel Heinze, Sergio Ramos and Wesley Sneijder. New signing Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is ineligible until January. Ramos also chose to leave Raul Gonzalez on the bench as the captain had the flu this week.

Madrid's injury problems worsened with defender Christoph Metzelder breaking his nose during Saturday's game. Metzelder said he will undergo surgery on Monday and then travel to Germany to recuperate.

Alone in attack, Higuain made an early impact when he scored Madrid's goal in the third minute from Arjen Robben's pass after the Netherlands winger had taken the ball past Marchena and Asier del Horno. It was Higuain's 11th goal of the season.

The visitors almost fell two goals behind in the 16th when midfielder Rafael van der Vaart curled the ball onto goalkeeper Renan Brito's right post, with Robben spurning a clear chance in the 31st.

Valencia, which had played two days earlier in a 2-2 UEFA Cup draw at Saint-Etienne, roused itself with Juanma Mata and David Villa each coming close before halftime. Villa then wasted an opportunity in the 36th and saw his shot blocked by Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas two minutes later.

Raul replaced Royston Drenthe at the start of the second half, shortly before Casillas pushed Villa's low shot past his left post as Valencia continued to threaten for an equalizer.

Five minutes later, Valencia midfielder Ruben Baraja's goalbound header hit Casillas in the face before bouncing off his left post.

With Valencia beginning to fade, Higuain shot onto the bar from close range on the hour, shortly before Marchena was dismissed after receiving his second yellow card for blocking Robben.

Madrid substitute Miguel Palanca then required stitches in his head after leaving the field with his face covered in blood after being elbowed by Valencia defender Raul Albiol, who received a yellow card.

Renan prevented Higuain from doubling his tally with a save on the 78th, although Valencia subjected Madrid to several nervous moments in the closing stages.

Atletico took a seventh-minute lead at Espanyol's Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium when Maxi fired home against his former club from a pass by Argentine compatriot Aguero.

Espanyol leveled in the 57th through right back Sergio Sanchez, who chested down a floated pass by central defender Nicolas Pareja and drove the ball past Atletico goalkeeper Leo Franco.

Aguero decided the game with an angled volley after Espanyol defenders had blocked his initial two attempts. The goal was the striker's ninth in the league this season.

Maxi sealed the visitors' victory with a solo effort in injury time when he cut in from the left, beat two defenders and rifled home.

Espanyol substitute Valdo Lopes reduced the deficit with almost the last kick of the game.

Espanyol, which stayed 17th, has taken only one point from three games since Mane Esnal took charge as coach. The team had lost its previous four matches.

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