place Racing Santander toward near-certain relegation from the Spanish league Sunday with a 1-0 away win through an early goal from Gaizka Toquero. The Basque striker ran onto Ander Herrera's through pass and scored with a shot inside the far post to give Bilbao the victory, lifting it into sixth place and the last Europa League spot. Racing remained winless in its last 16 games to sit 11 points from safety with four games to play. Bilbao hosts Sporting Lisbon Thursday in the second leg of their Europa League semifinal looking to overturn its 2-1 loss in the Portuguese capital last week. In the Spanish capital, Arda Turan scored a brace in three second-half minutes to help Atletico Madrid brush past Espanyol 3-1 and stay even on points with Bilbao. Atletico defender Diego Godin opened the scoring nine minutes in with a header before Vila Didac leveled for the visitors 10 minutes later. Turan scored with a spectacular airborne volley to rip Juanfran Torres' cross into the corner of the net to restore Atletico's advantage in the 59th. The Turkey midfielder quickly put the result beyond doubt when he latched onto a lobbed pass, cut back to shake off a pair of defenders, and sent his low strike off the post and over the goalline. At Anoeta Stadium, Carlos Vela's acrobatic late goal salvaged a 1-1 home draw for Real Sociedad against Villarreal. The draw left Villarreal six points above the relegation zone. Also, Granada moved eight points clear of the drop after a 1-0 win over the visiting Getafe thanks to Franco Jara's early goal set up by Carlos Martins on a counterattack.
