Goals by Spanish internationals Vicente Rodriguez, David Villa and Fernando Morientes secured the victory for Valencia, although they remain in sixth place.

Villa squandered a great chance to open the scoring midway through the first half when he had a clear view of the Mallorca goal, after a loose ball came to his feet, but he uncharacteristically sent his shot wide.

However, he earned the forgiveness of his teammates after 38 minutes with an outstanding long-range pass which set up Vicente's left foot effort from just inside the box.

The roles were then reversed for Valencia's second goal after 56 minutes when Vicente provided the service for Villa to get his eighth goal of the season.

Morientes, who replaced Villa on the hour, then rounded off the Valencia victory by heading home Miguel Angel Angulo's cross eight minutes before the whistle.

The visitors got a late consolation three minutes from time thanks to Jonas Gutierrez penalty, after Raul Albiol had clumsily brought down Victor Casadesus but that couldn't take the shine away from Valencia.

Mallorca have now lost their last three games and will be looking to recover their form during the 10-day holiday break in the Spanish league if they are to avoid being dragged into relegation trouble.

Athletic Bilbao, who Mallorca visit immediately after the New Year, fought out a dull 0-0 draw with fifth-placed Real Zaragoza.

The best chances for both sides came in the first five minutes when first Zaragoza's Pablo Aimar and then Athletic's Ismael Urzaiz both went close.

The Basques remain one place above the relegation zone.

Barcelona are second, one point behind Sevilla but with a game in hand, and are looking to bounce back after the disappointment of losing the World Club Cup final to Internacional on Sunday by beating Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Thursday.

"We've got this game make sure that we forget about what happened against Internacional," said Ronaldinho.

The Catalan club announced on Tuesday that Gianluca Zambrotta would definitely be on the sidelines for a month after tearing a left thigh muscle in Sunday's 1-0 loss to the Brazilian club.