Aimar fires Valencia to win, Real Madrid held

Valencia's Argentine playmaker Pablo Aimar struck a first-half hat-trick to lead the defending Spanish champions to a 5-1 demolition of Athletic Bilbao at Mestalla on Saturday.

Aimar's virtuoso display took Valencia provisionally top on 14 points, ahead of Real Sociedad on goal difference. The Basque side are not in action until Sunday, when they host Racing Santander.

Celta Vigo, in second place on 13 points going into the seventh round of matches, were looking to overtake Valencia with victory at home to Atletico Madrid in a later match on Saturday.

Real Madrid had been in with a chance to join the leaders on 14 points but they were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at home to Villarreal.

Real, beaten 2-0 at Racing Santander last weekend, took the lead on 23 minutes with a brilliant Zinedine Zidane strike.

But with Ronaldo struggling up front, they were unable to build on their advantage.

Jorge Lopez levelled the scores in first-half injury-time, winning a penalty and converting it himself. The visitors almost had a second after the break, Iker Casillas saving a point-blank Martin Palermo header with his feet.

Real came close to clinching what would have been an ill-deserved victory in the final minute, Pepe Reina having to react quickly to push a Roberto Carlos freekick against the post.

"All the players worked hard, defending the Real Madrid shirt," coach Vicente del Bosque said. "It was a good test, without the victory.

"Ronaldo could have been tired after playing all our recent games. He has to adapt to his new team but the important thing is that he's happy here and he's getting better all the time."

The draw was enough to take Real up to fourth place on 12 points. They were joined on that mark by Deportivo Coruna, who won 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano.