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Wesley Sneijder earned champions Real Madrid a 1-0 home victory over Recreativo, easing the pressure on coach Bernd Schuster.

The win took Real second above Villarreal, whose 17-match unbeaten run in the league ended with a surprise 3-0 home defeat by Valladolid.

Real, with 26 points from 12 matches, are two behind Barcelona - who host Getafe on Sunday.

Villarreal are third on 25, one ahead of Valencia and Sevilla, who shared a goalless draw at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Schuster received the public backing of the club at the beginning of the week despite poor recent performances but the side continued to labour against second-bottom Recre.

Dutch midfielder Sneijder scored with a deflected long-range shot after 39 minutes and although the visitors offered little in attack the narrow advantage made for a tense second half.

The home crowd whistled their team off at the end and will have been concerned to see striker Gonzalo Higuain leave the pitch on a stretcher with an ankle problem in the second half, joining Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Fabio Cannavaro on the injury list.

Villarreal 0-3 Valladolid

Villarreal started their unbeaten run with a 2-0 home win over Valladolid in April, but were always second best at the Madrigal and went down 3-0 thanks to three first-half goals.

Jonathan Sesma scored twice and Pedro Leon made it 3-0 from a free-kick just before the interval to earn Valladolid their first away points this season.

Sevilla 0-0 Valencia

Sevilla and Valencia saw out a fractious draw in Seville to stay fourth and fifth.

The match was devoid of clear-cut chances and littered with yellow cards.

Fredi Kanoute was unlucky with an overhead kick from 20 yards which he had set up himself, but Valencia deserved their point and could have taken all three had David Villa been awarded a late spot-kick.

Sevilla winger Jesus Navas saw a shot blocked in injury time from eight yards out.

Reuters