Ten-man Valencia moved four points clear of fourth-placed Sevilla in La Liga as Racing Santander grabbed a valuable point at the Mestalla.

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• Matchcast: Valencia v Racing
• La Liga standings

A lively match saw both Valencia and Racing have their keepers to thank for keeping the score at 0-0.

The usually clinical David Villa saw Fabio Coltorti make an excellent save midway through the first half after the Valencia striker was played in by David Silva.

Although Villa did eventually beat Coltorti with a shot later on, the Spain star could only watch as the ball hit the post and was cleared off the line by a Racing defender.

However, Racing were not without their chances. Sergio Canales, who recently signed for Real Madrid and has been loaned back to Racing for two seasons, gave 17-year-old right-back Joel a torrid time in the early moments and nearly opened the scoring just before half-time when he beat two Valencia players before his shot was turned around the post by Miguel Angel Moya.

The second half continued much the same way with both keepers making excellent stops although Moya was the busier of the two. First Manuel Arana tested Moya after playing a one-two with the substitue Pedro Munitis, before Moya again made an excellent save, this time from Canales, although the youngster should have done better with time and space.

With Valencia in the ascendancy and time ticking away David Navarro was harshly sent off for a second booking with just five minutes to go after a pass appeared to hit the defender's arm from close range.

With an man advantage Racing pushed for a win, and Canales was presented with a great chance after Munitis's excellent cross found the young forward on the edge of the six-yard box.

However, Canales could only prod the ball high and wide with the toe of his boot.

 The point for Valencia saw cement third place after Sevilla dropped points at Real Madrid on Saturday, although they are 15 points behind the top two.

Racing move six points clear of the bottom three.