Spain round-up: Carew fires Valencia to the summit

Valencia CF took advantage of Real Madrid CF's second successive league defeat to move to the summit of the Primera División with a gritty 2-1 win at Deportivo Alavés on Wednesday.

Winless streak
Madrid turned in one of their worst displays of the season as they went down 2-1 at Real Valladolid, a result that took their winless streak away from home to seven games. Santiago Cañizares saved a penalty four minutes from time to safeguard victory for Valencia, who take over at the top with 42 points from 24 games. Madrid drop to third on 40 points, behind RC Celta de Vigo, who lost to fourth-placed RC Deportivo La Coruña on Tuesday, on goal difference.

Rivaldo on target
FC Barcelona now have those sides in their sights after second-half goals from Rivaldo and Javier Saviola earned the Catalans a 2-0 win at home to Real Sociedad and took them up to fifth on 39 points, the same as Alavés, who slip to sixth.

Perfect response
Valencia fell behind at the Mendizorroza stadium with barely a minute on the clock, Mauricio Astudillo heading Alavés into the lead. Gonzalo de los Santos provided the perfect response for the visitors, equalising within 60 seconds. A rash charge out of his area from Alavés goalkeeper Kike handed John Carew what turned out to be the winning goal on 26 minutes, the Norwegian striker producing a deft chip into an empty net.

Jesús seals win
Valladolid took the lead against Madrid with a Fernando strike on the hour mark. After Fernando Morientes had equalised with a looping header, Jesús nodded in with two minutes left to earn the home side a deserved win. Coach Vicente del Bosque offered no excuses for his side's second away defeat in four days. "Valladolid played well, they gave it everything and they won," Del Bosque said. "We'll look towards the future now. We're very disappointed but we're still in the leading group and we will be challenging for the title."

Bilbao win thriller
Elsewhere, Athletic Club Bilbao defeated Málaga CF 3-2. Bilbao led twice through goals from Bittor Alkiza and Santiago Ezquerro but the game appeared to be heading for a draw as Málaga struck back through Manuel Canabal and Julio César Dely Valdés. With two minutes of injury time played, though, Rafael Alkorta curled in from outside the area to clinch victory for Bilbao and keep them in striking distance of the leaders.

Exciting draw
Víctor pounced on a poor attempt at a header back to the goalkeeper to clinch a 2-1 victory for Villarreal CF against RCD Mallorca, while the other four Spanish first division games played on Wednesday all ended in draws. Rayo Vallecano's match against RCD Espanyol was the most exciting of these, producing four goals. Michel struck the opening goal after 33 minutes and Jorge Azkoitia finished off a swift break early in the second half to give Rayo a comfortable lead. Espanyol reduced the arrears almost immediately as new signing Antonio Pacheco turned and swept in from the edge of the box, and Óscar's injury-time free-kick completed the visitors' comeback.

Sevilla sides draw
Real Zaragoza drew 1-1 with CD Tenerife, an encouraging result for the bottom club, while Sevilla FC's match with Club Atlético Osasuna and Real Betis Balompié's game at UD Las Palmas both ended goalless.