Valencia leaves door open for Osasuna

Valencia squandered a two-goal halftime lead and let Osasuna rally to a 3-3 draw in Spain on Monday.

Roberto Soldado, Aritz Aduriz and Marius Stankevicius all scored to give Valencia a 3-1 advantage heading into the second half.

But Carlos Aranda equalized in the 87th minute after fellow second-half substitute Miguel Flano scored Osasuna's second 15 minutes after the break.

Osasuna had lost its previous six visits to the Mestalla stadium and the draw left it three points clear of the relegation zone.

Valencia remains fifth with 25 points, but missed out on further closing the gap to the Champions League places after losses by fourth-place Espanyol and third-place Villarreal.

Osasuna pressured up the pitch from the opening whistle and had a pair of chances by Krisztian Vadocz and Juanfran to take an early lead.

But Valencia soon took control and Soldado scored the opener in the 24th after his side won the ball in its own half. Winger Juanma Mata then cut in from the left and set up Soldado with a low ball in that the Spanish striker volleyed home.

Stankevicius doubled Valencia's lead in the 32nd firing in a ball the Osasuna defense could not clear from its area.

Osasuna's Juanfran halved the difference in the 40th when he headed a cross past goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez, who returned from injury and started in place of Vicente Guaita. Juanfran's goal was Osasuna's second away goal of the season.

Two minutes later, Aduriz beat his marker at the near post and headed in a corner taken by Joaquin Sanchez for his fifth goal of the season, level with Soldado.

Osasuna center back Flano made it 3-2 when Cesar failed to cleanly punch out a center by Juanfran, leaving Flano with an open goal, and the visitors continued to press.

Spain defender Nacho Monreal saw his shot bounce wide of the left post in the 65th before Dejan Lekic hit the post with a header, but it was Aranda who eventually equalized with a shot from inside the area after Valencia repeatedly failed to clear the ball.

Earlier in round 15, Barcelona thrashed Real Sociedad 5-0 to stay top of the the league standings and two points ahead of Real Madrid, which beat last-place Zaragoza 3-1.

Villarreal remained third despite its 1-0 loss to Getafe, which moved into seventh place, and fourth-place Espanyol fell 2-1 at Athletic Bilbao.

Also, it was: Atletico Madrid 2, Deportivo 1; Sevilla 1, Almeria 3; Hercules 4, Malaga 1; Mallorca 0, Racing Santander 1; and Sporting Gijon 1, Levante 1.