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A terrible Atletico Madrid were thrashed 5-1 at Racing Santander as Villarreal went fifth in La Liga after a 2-1 win over Recreativo.

Atletico, who stay seventh with 49 points, spurned a chance to overtake El Submarino Amarillo after they slumped to a humiliating defeat.

Racing defender Christian Fernandez opened the scoring when he nodded the ball over the line in the eighth minute after Nikola Zigic power-headed Pedro Munitis's free-kick off the bar.

It was 2-0 just after the quarter hour when on-loan Real Madrid defender Ezequiel Garay evaded slack marking to head in another Munitis set-piece.

Mohamed Tchite scored a comedy third goal after dreadful defending by Tomas Ujfalusi and Antonio Lopez allowed him to poke a weak finish between the legs of the hapless Leo Franco.

Atletico pulled one back through a Diego Forlan penalty after Sergio Aguero was pulled down by Gonzalo Colsa on 62 minutes, but Munitis put their comeback to bed with a spectacular lob after a woeful clearance by Franco.

Giant Serbia striker Zigic added a fifth with a trademark header from a Colsa cross.

The win put Racing 10th after Valladolid lost 2-0 at Mallorca thanks to two second-half goals from Alhassane Keita.

A controversial goal from Cani gave Villarreal a 2-1 comeback win at home to Recreativo that took them up to fifth in La Liga and put the visitors 19th.

The midfielder's lob was ruled to have crossed the line when it was cleared from under the bar in the 67th minute.

"We have the right to complain because a goal has been awarded against us that shouldn't stand," Recre coach Lucas Alcaraz said.

"The referee wasn't in a position to see and he waited a long time to signal it. The linesman did not move. They had a conversation over the headset and decided to award it."

An earlier lobbed goal by Villarreal's Joseba Llorente towards the end of the opening half had cancelled out Javier Camunas's first minute opener for the visitors.

Villarreal moved on to 52 points, three behind fourth-placed Valencia.

Barcelona top the standings with 81 points, six ahead of Real Madrid after both teams won earlier this week.

At the foot of the table, Recreativo slipped to second bottom with 30 points after Espanyol continued their climb to safety with a 3-0 victory at Sporting Gijon.

Nene's volley put Espanyol ahead in the 25th minute and Sporting were condemned to defeat midway through the second half when Roman Martinez and Jose Callejon each scored within three minutes.

A red card for Sporting's David Barral soon after hindered the home side's chances of a fightback.

Espanyol are 18th with 32 points, one behind Sporting.

Reda Maher / Reuters