Joan Capdevila scored twice as Deportivo de
La Coruna beat struggling Villarreal 2-0 to rise to the top of the
Spanish league on Saturday.
Left back Capdevila netted a fierce, angled drive in the fourth
minute and doubled his tally in the 67th when he took advantage of
slack defensive play by the visitors to control the ball and slide
it home.
Deportivo, which made 16 acquisitions in the off-season, leads
the standings with seven points from three games. Sevilla, defending
champion FC Barcelona, Getafe and Valencia have six from two games.
Deportivo is likely to lose the leadership on Sunday when Sevilla
faces crosstown rival Real Betis, Barcelona visits Racing Santander,
and Valencia hosts Getafe. Sixth-place Real Madrid entertains Real
Sociedad.
Elsewhere, it will be Zaragoza versus Mallorca; Recreativo Huelva
taking on Levante; Athletic Bilbao facing Atletico Madrid; Osasuna
meeting Gimnastic Tarragona; and Espanyol squaring off with Celta
Vigo.
The defeat for Villarreal, last season's UEFA Champions League
semifinalist, left it in 16th place without a win _ or a goal _ in
its opening three league games.
Villarreal was eliminated from the pre-season Intertoto Cup,
ending its hopes of a European place, and then lost new signing
Frenchman Robert Pires and central defender Gonzalez with serious
knee injuries.
Villarreal midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme, who announced his
retirement from the Argentina national team on Wednesday, had a
chance to equalize when he broke through the Deportivo defence in
the 48th minute, but was denied by goalkeeper Dudu Aouate.
