After dumping Barcelona out of the Spanish Cup earlier last week, Valencia did the Catalan giants a massive favour last night by beating leaders Real Madrid 2-3 at the Santiago Bernabeu, cutting the champions' lead to four points after Barcelona's earlier 4-1 success against Real Valladolid at the Nou Camp.

Spain striker David Villa opened the scoring for Valencia in the 33rd minute though Raúl levelled the scores with a close-range header almost immediately after the re-start.

The former Spain skipper lent further weight to the campaign for his restoration to the national side ten minutes after the interval with a second headed goal which put the home side in front for the only time in the game.

David Villa notched his second from the penalty spot in the 67th minute after Fabbio Cannavaro had brought down David Silva, to level the scores before Angel Arizmendi left the Italy skipper standing before rounding Casillas to clinch the points and silence the disappointed home crowd (photo).

At the Nou Camp, Bojan Krkic (17), who does seem set to be included in Luis Aragonés's squad for this summer's Euro 2008 finals, scored twice for Barcelona after first Samuel Eto'o then Andres Iniesta had given Barcelona the lead either side of a 30th minute penalty converted for the visitors by Jonathan Sesma.

Sunday, 23rd March
Levante 1-2 Villarreal
Real Zaragoza 1-1 Almeria
Barcelona 4-1 Valladolid
Racing Santander 2-0 Recreativo Huelva
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Getafe
Real Madrid 2-3 Valencia
Murcia 4-0 Espanyol
Osasuna 0-1 Real Betis

Saturday, 22nd March
Mallorca 1-0 Deportivo La Coruna
Sevilla 1-2 Atletico Madrid

Liga table after 29 games
1  Real Madrid  62
2  Barcelona  58
3  Villarreal  56
4  Atletico Madrid  50
5  Racing Santander  47
6  Sevilla  45
7  Espanyol  45
8  Athletic Bilbao  39
9  Getafe  39
10 Almeria  39
11 Valencia  39
12 Real Mallorca  37
13 Real Betis  35
14 Osasuna  34
15 Deportivo La Coruna  34
16 Real Zaragoza  33
17 Real Valladolid  32
18 Recreativo Huelva  32
19 Murcia  26
20 Levante  19

Saturday, 29th March
Real Betis vs Barcelona
Villarreal vs Atletico Madrid

Sunday, 30th March
Almeria vs Levante
Espanyol vs Racing Santander
Getafe vs Osasuna
Recreativo Huelva vs Athletic Bilbao
Valencia vs Mallorca
Valladolid vs Real Zaragoza
Deportivo La Coruna vs Murcia
Real Madrid vs Sevilla