Goals from Fredi Kanoute, Christian Poulsen and Luis Fabiano helped Sevilla spank Valencia 3-0 at home in La Liga to prove that there is life after Juande Ramos.

SEVILLA 3 VALENCIA 0

It was Sevilla's first match without Ramos, who joined Spurs on Saturday night and watched them lose 2-1 at home to Blackburn hours before his former charges - now led by Manolo Jiminez - put the sword to Champions League Valencia.

The game was scrappy and peppered with interruptions as late challenges and stray passes stunted the pace. Valencia were below-par, perhaps still reeling from their shock 2-0 defeat at Rosenborg in the Champions League.

The home side took the lead on ten minutes, when Frederic Kanouté turned beautifully inside the area to fire past Timo Hildebrand. Although Kanouté took his chance with style, the nervous Valencia defence was to blame for not clearing quickly enough.

The goal did little to liven up the visitors, who were low on quality and imagination for most of the first half. Fernando Morientes and David Silva started the game on the bench, whilst David Villa missed out completely. Although Morientes came on at half-time, he was largely ineffective and without the skills of Silva and Villa, Valencia lacked flair and confidence.

Sevilla thought they had doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Christian Poulsen's powerful header beat Hildebrand. The Dane's effort was deemed offside but replays suggest the decision was borderline.

A largely uneventful second half was dominated by the home side, as Valencia failed to make inroads into the final third of the pitch. The karma was in Poulsen's favour when his 73rd minute strike from just outside the six-yard box made it 2-0. From then on, Valencia all but gave up and it was only a matter of time before Sevilla increased their lead. Luis Fabiano's crisp strike just inside the box capped a successful evening for the hardworking Brazilian, who shot over the helpless Hildebrand to seal a deserved 3-0 victory for the home side. For the supporters and the players, it was a solid and convincing first match of the post-Ramos era.

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REAL ZARAGOZA 4 VILLARREAL 1

Brazilian Ricardo Oliveira had a free header to put Zaragoza ahead in the 37th minute and a dreadful defensive error from Villarreal allowed Oscar to steal through and double the lead in the 50th.

Argentina striker Diego Milito scored the third from the penalty spot in the 67th and Sergio Garcia made it 4-0 in the 79th.

Villarreal scored a consolation goal through French midfielder Robert Pires in the 82nd, and Zaragoza had defender Francisco Pavon sent off two minutes from time.

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LEVANTE 0 ATLETICO MADRID 1

Levante were chasing the game from the 27th minute when Uruguay striker Diego Forlan buried Sergio Aguero's chest-down.

Levante pressed hard, and hit the crossbar, but remain bottom without a win this season.

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OSASUNA 2 VALLADOLID 2

Alvaro Rubio headed Valladolid in front from Daniel Kome's cross in the 36th and Jonathan Sesma lashed in the second in the 52nd.

Osasuna's fightback started when Portuguese striker Dady scored with a header in the 72nd and six minutes later Dady capitalised on an error to equalise. Osasuna had Enrique Corrales sent off in the 80th.

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RACING SANTANDER 2 GETAFE 0

Racing striker Oscar Serrano broke the deadlock with a thunderous drive that went in off the crossbar in the 40th minute and Jorge Lopez doubled the lead with a towering header in the 74th.

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REAL MURCIA 1 RECREATIVO HUELVA 0

Uruguay forward Mario Regueiro scored with a header from a corner in the 47th minute to help promoted Murcia to their third win of the season.

Eddie de Oliveira & Reuters / Eurosport