Cordoba's run without a victory continued this evening as Villarreal eased to a 2-0 victory to climb into the top six.

It was the visitors who started the better of the two sides, but they were frustrated in their early attempts to find a breakthrough when Juan Carlos pulled off a fine save to deny Denis Cheryshev.

However, they would find the goal their pressure deserved midway through the first half thanks to Luciano Vietto, who latched onto a cross from Cheryshev before turning quickly to fire past Carlos.

Cordoba struggled to produce a response, despite enjoying their fair share of possession, and the hosts nearly fell further behind early in the second half when Jonathan dos Santos struck an effort straight at Carlos after being gifted room on the edge of the box.

Federico Cartabia should have equalised for Cordoba just after the hour mark, but he failed to beat Sergio Asenjo from close range.

Villarreal then scored a crucial second with 20 minutes remaining when Ikechukwu Uche turned in a corner from Dos Santos at the front post.

The visitors dropped deeper to defend their two-goal advantage in the latter stages as Cordoba stretched their winless run to 13 games.