BARCELONA, Spain --
Bruno Soriano scored his second of two goals deep into stoppage time to grab a 2-1 victory for Villarreal at Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday, strengthening its hold on fourth place and the last Champions League berth.
Soriano got his first goal in the 36th minute when the midfielder was left unmarked to fire in Mario Gaspar's squared pass, before Deportivo equalized when Lucas Perez assisted Luis Alberto three minutes after halftime.
The match was heading toward a draw when a rash foul by Fernando Navarro on Matias Nahuel gave Soriano a spot kick that he converted five minutes into injury time to secure Villarreal a fifth straight win.
Soriano continued his superb week after he also scored a free kick to earn a victory over Valencia on Thursday.
"We were right there at the end, when tension was the highest," Soriano said. "We worked hard to get this win at a very tough place to play."
Not only did Villarreal go five points clear of Celta Vigo in fifth place, it also moved level on points with third-place Real Madrid before it visits Valencia later.
Deportivo's loss was just its third all season through 18 rounds, and it ended a 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions as it slid into seventh place.
Athletic Bilbao inched into sixth after it drew 2-2 at home with Las Palmas, despite going ahead twice from goals by Aritz Aduriz and Inaki Williams.
Eibar cruised to a 4-0 win at Real Betis as the tiny Basque team recorded its biggest win in its second season in the top flight. Ander Capa, Sergio "Keko" Gontan, Adrian Gonzalez and Borja "Baston" Gonzalez all scored for Eibar.
Eibar climbed into eighth place, while Sevilla slipped to ninth after losing 2-1 to a Granada side that moved out of the relegation zone.
Granada's goals came from young strikers Isaac Success and Adalberto Penaranda, who made a superb solo run to double the lead, before Sevilla's Victor "Vitolo" Machin pulled one back right before halftime.
Elsewhere, Real Sociedad fought back to salvage a 2-2 draw at relegation-threatened Rayo Vallecano.
