Villarreal finally recorded their first away win of the season coming from behind to win 2-1 at Atletico Madrid on Sunday thanks to Joseba Llorente's last minute winner.
Portuguese international Simao had shot Atletico into a first half lead but David Fuster equalised early in the second period and both sides had chances before Llorente bundled in a 90th minute header to stun the home fans at the Vicente Calderon.
It boosts Villarreal's chances of European football after enduring the worst start in their history and the club climb to 10th.
"We have got six points from the last six which is just what we need as we make up for lost time," said Villarreal coach Ernesto Valverde. "We have been good at home but poor away so this is a big win for us."
For Atletico it was a seventh defeat of the campaign and they lie just a point above the relegation zone.
Atletico were without top-scorer Sergio "Kun" Aguero due to injury but winger Simao opened the scoring on 36 minutes. Simao ran onto a great pass from Jose Antonio Reyes and showed good composure to curl home into the corner.
Maxi Rodriguez missed a golden chance to make it 2-0 close to half-time and Villarreal responded by equalising three minutes after the interval with Fuster heading in from close range after some poor defending.
Substitute Llorente then popped up with the winner in stoppage time and Atletico jeered their losing team off after the final whistle.
"It is normal that the fans are annoyed," said Simao. "We are annoyed with ourselves and shouldn't be made to suffer like that at the end."
In Sunday's late match Sevilla replaced Valencia in third with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Sporting Gijon.
Mali international Frederic Kanoute, in and out of the team this season, netted the decisive goal after just nine minutes and Sevilla move two points ahead of Valencia with Real Madrid four points ahead.
Earlier Real Mallorca finally notched their first away win of the season with a 1-0 triumph at Osasuna on Sunday to move a point behind fourth-placed Valencia in the Spanish league standings.
Incredibly Mallorca had never won against Osasuna in Pamplona before but Gonzalo Castro's fantastic left-footed strike ended that hoodoo and left coach Gregorio Manzano a happy man.
"We have put an end to this poor run which had lasted 17 years and this is a great day for Mallorca because we broke this jinx at a stadium where we had never won before," said Manzano.
Deportivo La Coruna were leapfrogged by Mallorca after a 1-1 draw at Almeria, as they missed the chance to take advantage of Valencia's 3-2 loss to Real Madrid on Saturday.
Depor could have moved level on points with Valencia but had to settle for a point that drops them to sixth place after substitute Pablo Alvarez cancelled out Kalu Uche's opener.
Elsewhere, Xerez stay rooted to the bottom of the table, six points from safety, after a 3-2 loss at Racing Santander.
Racing moved out of the bottom three with the win, at the expense of Real Zaragoza, who fired coach Marcelino following Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona will be be top of the table for Christmas after a 1-0 derby win over Espanyol on Saturday in their final league match of 2009 and now head to the FIFA World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi looking for a sixth trophy inside a year.
Real Madrid are five points behind Barca with a game in hand after beating Valencia on Saturday but it came at a cost with key defender Pepe sustaining a cruciate knee injury that is expected to rule him out for the rest of the season.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
