MADRID, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Malaga's exceptional first half to the season continued on Saturday night thanks to a 2-0 win away to Sevilla in the Spanish top league.
Malaga's win in the Andalusian derby came thanks to second half goals from Martin Demichelis and Eliseu, who scored a 70th minute penalty, while Sevilla's problems were made worse thanks to a red card shown to Federico Fazio, who was sent off for committing a foul on Joaquin Sanchez.
The result increases the pressure on Sevilla coach Michel Gonzalez whose side has failed to win in their last four league matches.
Athletic Club Bilbao took their second league win in a week with a 1-0 victory away to Mallorca.
Aritz Aduriz's 11th minute goal in his 100th game for Athletic decided the game, but his side had to ride a lot of luck before taking the points and leave Mallorca without a league win in 11 matches.
Granada took advantage of Mallorca's defeat to climb out of the relegation zone, although they will be disappointed with just a 0-0 draw at home to Real Sociedad.
Referee Teixeira Vitienes was a key figure in Osasuna's 1-1 draw away to Getafe. Osasuna were heading for a 1-0 win in a dreadful game thanks to Kike Sola's late goal, before Teixeira made a dreadful decision to give Getafe a penalty for handball that never was.
Diego Costa slotted home the penalty and to add insult to injury Osasuna coach Jose Mendilibar was sent off for his, in this case, justified protests.
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, who take on Atletico Madrid, play their respoecitve matches on Sunday, while there are two further games to end the 16th round of games on Sunday.