MADRID (AP) — Vedat Muriqi moved closer to Kylian Mbappé at the top of La Liga’s scoring charts this season with a brace on Sunday as relegation-threatened Mallorca beat Rayo Vallecano 3-0.
The Kosovo striker scored four minutes apart near the end of the first half for his 20th and 21st goals of the season in the league, and within two of Mbappé’s 23 goals. The Real Madrid forward was held scoreless in the team’s 1-1 draw against Girona on Friday and hasn’t scored in the competition since February.
Muriqi has scored three goals in his last two matches with Mallorca. He also scored in the team’s 2-1 win over Madrid last weekend.
“I’m very proud,” the 31-year-old Muriqi said. “We’ve done a very good job and now we’re out of the relegation zone.”
Jan Virgili was the other scorer Sunday for Mallorca, which has won three of its last four matches to move to 15th place, two points from the drop zone.
Rayo, which has one win in five matches, stayed a point ahead in 13th place.
Oviedo not bottom
Oviedo won 3-0 at sixth-placed Celta Vigo to leave last place with its third win in four matches.
Federico Viñas scored twice for the visitors, which hadn’t won on the road since September at Valencia.
Alberto Reina also scored for Oviedo, which was promoted this season after a 24-year absence from the top tier.
Last-but-one Oviedo is six points from safety.
Villarreal wins on the road
Villarreal strengthened its hold on third place with a 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao. Sergi Cardona and Alfon scored first-half goals for the visitors.
Gorka Guruzeta scored late for midtable Athletic. The Basque Country club has only one win in its last seven matches across all competitions.
The result left Villarreal with 61 points, four more than fourth-placed Atletico Madrid, which lost 2-1 at Sevilla on Saturday.
Betis held at Osasuna
Fifth-placed Real Betis was held 1-1 at midtable Osasuna.
Abde Ezzalzouli put Betis ahead in the seventh minute and Ante Budimir equalized for the hosts by converting a 40th-minute penalty. Betis hasn’t won in seven league matches, while Osasuna has one victory in six games.
On Saturday, Barcelona beat Espanyol 4-1 at home to increase its lead over second-placed Real Madrid to nine points after 31 rounds.
The referees and some teams wore throwback shirts as part of a “La Liga Retro” promotion this round.
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