Honours even as Sevilla and Valencia fight out draw

Sevilla and Valencia fought out a dramatic 2-2 draw in the Primera Liga on Wednesday that kept the teams in the hunt for the Champions League places.

Sevilla striker Julio Baptista, who put his side 2-1 ahead when he cracked home a penalty midway through the second half, missed a golden opportunity to seal the victory when he skied another spot kick over the bar just six minutes from time.

Valencia, who got off to a winning start under new coach Antonio Lopez with a 2-1 victory over Real Betis at the weekend, were also left ruing their bad luck when they had a late goal controversially disallowed for a foul.

The result left Sevilla fourth in the standings, a point above last season's champions Valencia, whose regional rivals Villarreal leapfrogged both teams into third spot with a 2-1 comeback win at home to relegation-threatened Real Mallorca.

Villarreal's leading scorer Diego Forlan snatched a late winner to take his tally for the season to 16.

Barcelona were held to a 0-0 draw by city rivals Espanyol on Tuesday after goalkeeper Carlos Kameni produced a string of top-class saves to deny Frank Rijkaard's side a victory.