Valencia stay on top after last gasp draw

With five games to go Valencia and Real both have 70 points, but Rafa Benitez’s side lead the table by virtue of their better head-to-head record against the reigning champions.

Barcelona stretched their unbeaten run to 15 matches and moved up a place into third on 63 points, two ahead of Deportivo Coruna, after a classy 3-0 win over Malaga at the Nou Camp.

Argentine striker Javier Saviola opened the scoring when he guided in the ball at the near post after a superb pass from Luis Garcia and returned the favour for the winger to notch the second four minutes later.

Dutch midfielder Philip Cocu rattled in a third 11 minutes before the break, while Ronaldinho gave yet another virtuoso performance with his masterful orchestration of the attack.

The Catalans meet Real Madrid, who edged neighbours Atletico 2-1 on Saturday, at the Bernabeu next weekend, while Valencia face a tricky trip to fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao.

Valencia, anxious not to allow Real Madrid to displace them at the top, took the initiative from the kick-off and pinned Sociedad back in their own area for most of the first half.

Sociedad, who attacked little in the first half, took the lead out of the blue 20 minutes after the break when midfielder Xabi Alonso intercepted a Valencia throw-in and sent a swirling 20-metre shot over keeper Santiago Canizares and into the net.

Minutes later Valencia were dealt another blow when defender Roberto Ayala was harshly adjudged to have fouled Sociedad forward Oscar de Paula in the area and Valery Karpin cracked in the resulting spot kick.

But Valencia hit back four minutes later when winger Vicente controlled a long cross from Angulo and drilled in low past Alberto to make it 2-1. A minute into injury time, Mista snapped up a loose ball on the edge of the area and crashed an unstoppable drive in off the underside of the bar. Reuters