Injury-time draw keeps Valencia on top

Valencia and Depor both have twenty points from ten games. In third place, with three points less are Real Madrid, who thrashed Las Palmas 5-1, whilst Alaves drop down to fourth after a 2-1 defeat away to Valladolid. Barcelona, meanwhile, crash down to seventh after after astonishingly losing 1-2 at home to Villarreal.

Valencia had to at least draw to stay on top thanks to Deportivo's 2-0 defeat of Zaragoza on Saturday. Hector Cuper's injury-weakened side, however, made a flat start and were soon losing. In the 24th minute Rayo's Bosnian striker Elvir Bolic stunned Mestalla with a staggering shot from 45 metres which caught Santiago Canizares off his line.

Things got even worse for Valencia in the 53rd minute, when Michel Sanchez made it 0-2 with a clever long shot. Roared forward by a hopeful rather than expectant 45,000 crowd, Valencia duly lay siege to the Rayo goal and captain Gaizka Mendieta reduced arrears in the 61st minute with a powerful drive with his weaker left foot. Rayo's German playmaker Gerhard Poschner then picked up a second yellow, and it seemed to be just a matter of time before Valencia equalized.

Rayo defended solidly, however, and seemed to have weathered the storm. In the third minute of stoppage time, though, substitute Diego Alonso made it 2-2 with a fierce drive on the turn. The comeback suggests that Valencia may have the character to stand the heat at the top.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, were cruising up into third place thanks to a straightforward 5-1 thrashing of Las Palmas. Captain Fernando Hierro was, as usual, in the thick of things. He opened the scoring in the fifth minute from the penalty spot, after the rapid Savio had been pulled down. Hierro headed in the third in the 50th minute, then put a second penalty over the bar at the death, after the busy Steve McManamam had been bundled over.

Real's other goals were put away by the in-form Jose Maria Guti, the out-of-form Raul Gonzalez, and the excellent Savio. Las Palmas, for their part, left the Bernabeu complaining about the two penalties and about the red cards waved at defender Alvaro Garcia and goalkeeper Nacho Gonzalez.

Villarreal were expected to receive the same treatment in Barcelona as Las Palmas in Madrid. In the very first minute, however, little Victor Fernandez picked his way through the Barca defence and beat Francesc Arnau with a clever chip.

Phillip Cocu equalized in the 20th minute by heading in a free-kick from Xavi Hernandez. Barca, however, looked flat after Wednesday's Champions League exit and failed to dominate. In the 57th minute man-of-the-match Victor stunned the Camp Nou with a spectacular winner, hammering a loose ball into the top corner from the edge of the box.

Amazingly, Villareal have won both times they have visited the Camp Nou. Sunday's won leaves them in ninth place. Barca's fourth defeat piles up the pressure on the embattled Lorenzo Serra Ferrer.

Alaves drop down to fourth, level with Real and one point ahead of Barca, after a 2-1 defeat in Valladolid. Goals from veteran Alberto Lopez and Barcelona reject Dragan Ciric sunk the men from Vitoria, who looked weary after their UEFA Cup exploits.

Moving up into fifth place, level on points with Alaves, are Mallorca, 2-1 winners over Numancia. George Finidi and Albert Luque scored for the islanders, the promising Ruben Navarro pulled a late, insufficient goal back for Numancia.

Rayo are sixth after their draw in Valencia, whilst brittle Celta drop down to eighth after a 2-1 defeat in Bilbao. Spain winger Joseba Etxeberria headed Athletic into the lead in the 35th minute, only for Tomas Hervas to equalize straight away.

In the 50th minute Jesus Lacruz made it 2-1 by heading in a far-post corner. Celta struggled to equalize again, but looked fatigued after Thursday's memorable 5-3 thrashing of Red Star Belgrade.

Oviedo move up to tenth thanks to a tight 1-0 defeat of Real Sociedad, the only goal being put away by former Spain striker Oli Alvarez. The latest loss pulls the Basques back down to the bottom of the table.

Sunday's other two matches turned out to be tedious 0-0 draws. Osasuna battled out a point in Santander, which takes them off the bottom, whilst Espanyol were doing the same down in Malaga, thanks to a magnificent display from goalkeeper Juan Mora.

(la/dpa)