Spanish international striker Alvaro Negredo had a night to forget scoring an own goal and being sent off for violent conduct as nine-man Sevilla crashed to a 2-1 defeat at lowly Real Zaragoza on Sunday to slip out of the top four.

Negredo, a club record summer signing at 15 million euros, headed into his own net for what proved Zaragoza's winning goal on 40 minutes and got a straight red on 81 minutes for kicking out at Matteo Contini.

It was a seventh league defeat of the season for Sevilla who slip to fifth with Real Mallorca a point ahead in fourth after an impressive 10th consecutive home win as they beat Villarreal 1-0 at the Ono Stadium on Sunday.

The latest Sevilla defeat will crank up the pressure on coach Manolo Jimenez who set a top three finish and title challenge as the pre-season target.

Sevilla must pick themselves up for Wednesday's Kings Cup semifinal second leg at Getafe and they begin as favourites holding a comfortable 2-0 lead from the first leg.

Zaragoza move out of the bottom three after recording a second consecutive league win for the first time this season with Valladolid slipping into the relegation zone.

Mallorca's Portuguese centre-back Jose Nunes netted on 81 minutes to maintain Mallorca's flawless home record as new Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido tasted a 1-0 defeat in his first match in charge.

Mallorca move into the Champions League spots and have a perfect 30 points at home conceding just three goals in the process.

Elsewhere Atletico Madrid and Racing Santander shared the spoils in a heated 1-1 draw and prepare to meet for the third time in a week on Thursday in the second leg of the Kings Cup semi-final.

Racing trail 4-0 from the first leg and hoped to avenge the cup loss in the league but Atletico took a 24th minute lead through Diego Forlan before Atletico old boy Gonzalo Colsa equalised for Racing 12 minutes later.

Atletico stay down in 12th a point behind Racing but still have a chance to rescue their season in the Kings Cup.

In other matches, Deportivo La Coruna fell two points behind Mallorca in sixth after a 0-0 draw at Malaga on Sunday.

Athletic Bilbao closed to within two points of Depor with a 3-2 comeback win over Xerez on Sunday thanks to a brace from Spanish international Fernando Llorente.

Xerez prop up the table, as they have done for virtually the whole season, and are seven points from safety.