Celta Vigo was beaten for the fifth time in six La Liga games, going down 3-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday with the Galicians distracted by Thursday’s Europa League semifinal against Manchester United.
Eduardo Berizzo made nine changes from the side that started Thursday’s 2-1 defeat at Sevilla and Athletic’s greater desire for the points showed as it boosted its bid to qualify for next season’s Europa League.
Raul Garcia struck either side of half-time before Mikel Rico wrapped up a vital three points for the visitor to take it above Basque rival Real Sociedad into sixth.
Elsewhere, Leganes failed to take a step closer to survival as it was beaten 2-0 at Eibar.
In the Serie A, a first-half winner from Jose Callejon handed Napoli the points from a 1-0 win at Inter Milan on Sunday that closed the gap on Roma, in the second spot, to a point.
Inter's fourth defeat in a six-match winless run, meanwhile, left the Nerazzurri in seventh, but now three points behind city rivals AC Milan and eight behind fifth-placed Atalanta.
The results:
On Sunday: La Liga: Eibar 2 (Kike 62, Enrich 66) bt Leganes 0; Celta Vigo 0 lost to Athletic Bilbao 3 (Raul Garcia 35, 50, Mikel Rico 83).
Serie A: Inter Milan 0 lost to Napoli 1 (Callejon 43).