Eibar relegated from La Liga, Bacca hat-trick powers Villarreal over Sevilla

Villarreal striker Carlos Bacca scored a hat-trick as his side celebrated the return of fans for the first time in over a year by thrashing Sevilla 4-0 on Sunday.

Eibar is bottom of La Liga with 30 points after 37 games, three behind 17th-placed Huesca and with a worse head-to-head record.

Tiny Eibar's seven-year adventure in La Liga came to an end on Sunday when they were thrashed 4-1 away to Valencia.

Eibar had to win to have a chance of survival but got off to a nightmare start when Valencia's Portuguese winger Goncalo Guedes netted inside the near post in the third minute.

The Basque side took the initiative in the game but were outdone on the counter-attack and a difficult task soon turned into a near-impossible one when Carlos Soler struck twice in the space of 11 minutes.

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Bryan Gil responded for Eibar late in the first half but Guedes struck again soon after the interval to effectively bury the Basque side, who hail from a town of 27,000 inhabitants and were promoted to the top-flight for the first time in 2014.

Eibar is bottom of La Liga with 30 points after 37 games, three behind 17th-placed Huesca and with a worse head-to-head record.

Elche meanwhile gave itself a fighting chance of survival by coming from behind to win 3-1 at Cadiz to go 18th and join Huesca on 33 points.

Real Valladolid is 19th on 31 after being hammered 4-1 at Real Sociedad but it still hasa chance of staying up as Huesca was beaten 1-0 at Real Betis.

Alaves secured its top-flight status by beating Granada 4-2 at home while Getafe also clinched survival with a 2-1 home win over Levante.

Bacca hat-trick trounces Sevilla

Colombian Bacca had only scored twice all season but he put the host in front against his former club with a towering header in the 34th minute and used his strength to score again two minutes into the second period.

 

Villarreal striker Carlos Bacca scored a hat-trick as his side celebrated the return of supporters for the first time in over a year by thrashing Sevilla 4-0 at home in La Liga on Sunday.

Colombian Bacca had only scored twice all season but he put the host in front against his former club with a towering header in the 34th minute and used his strength to score again two minutes into the second period.

The full #LaLigaSantander table following an day of action.#LiveStandingspic.twitter.com/a3t7xlVX7p

— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) May 16, 2021

 

Sevilla, who had bowed out of the title race on Wednesday, had defender Diego Carlos sent off in the 52nd minute for a second booking and a bad evening for Julen Lopetegui's side got worse when Gerard Moreno further increased the host's lead in the 66th.

Bacca then completed his hat-trick in the 79th to further delight the 5,000 Villarreal fans who returned to the Estadio Ceramica for the first time since March 2020 after the Spanish government lifted a ban on spectators in a select number of regions with a low COVID-19 infection rate.

Villarreal is seventh with 58 points after 37 games, level with sixth-placed Real Betis, while Sevilla is fourth on 74th.

Villarreal visits second-placed Real Madrid in its final match of the season next Sunday before playing Manchester United in the Europa League final on May 26.