Raul scores first goal in 11 months as Real Madrid ties

Raul delivered the perfect riposte to Spain coach Luis Aragones by netting his first Primera Liga goal in 11 months as 10-men Real Madrid claimed a deserved 1-1 draw against city-rivals Atletico.

Real skipper Raul was left out of the national team squad for the first time in 10 years Friday, when Aragones named his party for the Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden on Saturday.

But the 29-year-old showed he is not a spent force by firing home a 37th-minute equalizer - his first Primera Liga goal since last October against Deportivo La Coruna - after Mista had given Atletico the lead six minutes in.

Although they were forced to concede possession for long periods in the second half - especially after the dismissal of central defender Sergio Ramos - Real were worthy of a share of the spoils, although they were nearly denied at the death by Atletico substitute Sergio Aguero.

Barcelona continue to lead the way following their 3-1 win at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday night.

Valencia produced a sparkling second-half display to sink Gimnastic Tarragona 4-0 and move up a place to second in the table on Sunday evening.

Heading into the match with a record of six wins from eight matches in Spain and Europe this season, Valencia took just 14 minutes to open the scoring through Fernando Morientes.

Quique Sanchez Flores' team took until the second half to make the game safe - and did so in style with further strikes from David Villa (53 and 79) and substitute Miguel Angulo (84).

Sevilla continued their fine start to the season by beating Getafe 1-0 to go third, with Dirnei Renato netting the only goal.

Late goals from Antonio Barragan and Ivan Riki enabled Deportivo La Coruna to beat Real Sociedad 2-0 while a Diego Forlan double handed Villarreal a 2-1 victory at Real Mallorca.

Substitutes Florent Sinama Pongolle and Javi Guerrero netted late goals as Recreativo Huelva beat Real Betis, 2-0.

Espanyol and Osasuna played out a goalless draw in Barcelona while Levante also took a point from their trip to Real Zaragoza, the match finishing 2-2.

Racing Santander remain without a win, although they ought to have changed that statistic against Celta Vigo after Cristian Alvarez blazed an injury-time penalty past the post.

Earlier, giant Serbia striker Nikola Zigic put Santander ahead only for Santos Iriney to equalize.