Neville's winning run ended, lucky 13 for Villarreal

Valencia's four-game winning run came to a sudden halt as Gary Neville's men were beaten 3-0 by Athletic Bilbao on Sunday in a dress rehearsel of their Europa League last-16 tie.

Earlier, Villarreal moved to within two points of Real Madrid in third by stretching their unbeaten league run to 13 games with a comfortable 3-0 win over Levante.

Valencia set the record for an aggregate win in the Europa League with a 10-0 thrashing of Rapid Vienna on Thursday, whilst victories over Espanyol and Granada had allayed any fears of a relegation battle.

However, they have been drawn against Athletic in the last 16 of the Europa League and they will face a much tougher test to make it into the quarter-finals against a side who moved up to seventh in La Liga with three goals in seven second-half minutes at Mestalla.

Sabin Merino was the Basques' hero as they saw off Marseille in midweek and he continued his goal-scoring form with a bullet header from Mikel San Jose's cross.

Iker Muniain then doubled the visitors' lead from Mikel Rico's pass to register his first goal in 18 months.

And Aritz Aduriz compounded a miserable afternoon for Neville by rising highest to head home Benat Extebarria's corner for his 27th goal of the season.

Villarreal also ousted Napoli in Europa League action on Thursday, but showed no ill effects as goals from Leo Baptistao and Samu Castillejo put them 2-0 up inside half an hour against Levante.

Adrian Lopez added a third with his first goal for the club just after the break.

And Levante's miserable day was completed when captain David Navarro was sent off for a second bookable offence, meaning he will miss the visit of Real Madrid on Wednesday.

A fourth defeat in five games leaves Levante still four points off safety in 19th.

At the very least, Villarreal now look assured of a return to the Champions League next season after opening up an 11-point lead on fifth-placed Sevilla.

Real Madrid's title hopes were realistically ended on Saturday as they lost 1-0 at home to Atletico Madrid.

Victory moved Atletico to within five points of leaders Barcelona, but the European champions can reestablish their eight-point advantage when they host Sevilla later on Sunday.