Celta strike late to beat Atletico, Barca draw

Celta Vigo stayed in the hunt for a Champions League qualification slot on Sunday as Eduardo Berizzo struck three minutes from time to give them a 1-0 victory at Atletico Madrid.

However Barcelona's hopes of claiming a European place suffered a further setback as the Catalans turned in one of their worst performances of a wretched domestic season in a goalless draw at struggling Alaves.

Victory for fifth-placed Celta took them to within five points of Valencia, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot.

Valencia, the reigning league champions, were looking to re-establish their eight-point cushion above the UEFA Cup slots with victory away to Athletic Bilbao in a later game on Sunday.

Barcelona remain down in ninth place on 33 points -- 13 points behind Valencia, 21 points off the championship pace and just four points above the relegation zone.

The top three teams in Spain all won on Saturday, leaving Real Madrid with a one-point lead at the top.

Real won 1-0 at Villarreal with a last-minute goal from Ivan Helguera to stay top with 54 points from 26 games.

Real Sociedad stayed second on 53 with a 2-1 success away to Racing Santander, while Deportivo Coruna kept hold of third place two points further back after their 2-0 win at home to Rayo Vallecano.

Those results left Sunday's focus on fourth place and Celta put the pressure on Valencia with their valuable 1-0 win at Atletico.

A match dominated by the two defences was settled with a late counter-attack started by Gustavo Lopez. He switched the ball across to Berizzo and the Argentine produced a precise left-foot finish to give his side the points.

Barcelona's draw at Alaves was at least enough to preserve the unbeaten record of replacement coach Radomir Antic but there was precious little else to cheer for the Catalans.

Patrick Kluivert wasted their one clear chances, striking the bar with his chip over the goalkeeper in the first half.

Barca had Thiago Motta sent off just past the hour mark and they concentrated on frantic defence thereafter.

Alaves had Oscar Tellez red-carded two minutes into injury-time for handball and Juan Roman Riquelme blasted the resulting free kick over the bar to bring a sad end to a dreadful game.