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Barcelona stayed top of La Liga despite being held to a goalless draw at Valencia, while Real Madrid kept the pressure on with a 4-2 win over Valladolid.

Sevilla stay third but slip three points behind Madrid after a 1-0 defeat at Deportivo, who are fourth. Valencia remain fifth after their point.

Barcelona - who would have made it a club-record start to the season had they won their seventh match in a row - could count themselves fortunate not to lose at the Mestalla.

The treble-winners were spared defeat by some great goalkeeping by Victor Valdes and wasteful finishing by their hosts, although had injured Valencia striker David Villa started it may have been a different story.

Valencia should have taken an early lead when, 63 seconds in, Pablo Hernandez could only fire straight at the onrushing Valdes after David Silva slid him clean through.

Juan Manuel Mata had a great chance to open the scoring three minutes later but Carles Puyol did just enough to put him off as he prepared to head Pablo's cross.

Valdes again saved Los Cules, blocking bravely at Mata's feet when Ever Banega played him in on 20 minutes.

Ten minutes later Eric Abidal spared their blushes after they let a quickly-taken free-kick release Pablo, who crossed from the left to leave Mata with a simple far-post finish that was denied by the France defender's timely intervention.

The corner was half-cleared to Silva, who moved inside and played the ball low to Mata, who fired over: Barca were on the rack.

Valencia continued to press, with Pep Guardiola's men genuinely struggling to keep pace, but it was not for another quarter hour until they had another chance. This time Mata was denied by a last-gasp Gerard Pique tackle that prevented Pablo's ball from reaching him unmarked and eight yards out.

Valencia struggled to create clear-cut opportunities after the break and, after the hour mark, Barca started to find their rhythm and went close three times in succession.

On 62 minutes Messi was denied by Cesar Sanchez's first real save of the match after good work from Pique.

Sixty seconds later it was Xavi's turn, but his rising drive was blocked for a corner.

The best chance came a minute after that when, after good work on the right by Xavi, Pedro was left with just Cesar to beat but a combination of goalkeeper and Bruno Saitor kept the ball out.

Valencia were startled into action and Frenchman Jeremy Mathieu - a defender who impressed out of position in midfield - curled an opportunistic effort just wide soon after.

Pablo almost scored the goal of the season with an outrageous lob from inside his own half that the excellent Valdes managed to tip over on 68 minutes.

Valdes, often accused of lacking the quality of his team-mates, made an even better save three minutes later.

After a Barca attack broke down, a scintillating break from Valencia saw Mata swing an unplayable cross at Silva, whose instinctive finish was blocked by a star-shaped Valdes.

That was the chance of the match and, for all their huffing and puffing, neither side managed to carve out a match winner, although there was almost an embarrassing moment for Cesar when he almost spilled Yaya Toure's daisy cutter into his own net.

Real Madrid 4-2 Sevilla

The hosts went 2-0 up through a Raul brace, but Nauzet Aleman pulled one back with a brilliant free-kick before a solo run and strike from Marcelo made it 3-1 at half-time.

Madrid's nerves were frayed when Marquitos pulled it back to 3-2, but a sublime late chip from Gonzalo Higuain restored the two-goal lead.

The hosts dominated the opening exchanges and took a two-goal lead when Raul pounced twice from close range.

On 13 minutes the local hero ghosted across the six-yard box to flick home Esteban Granero's low, near-post cross.

Five minutes later he made it 2-0, rifling home first time after Marcelo overlapped with Rafael van der Vaart and drilled in a superb ball.

Diego Costa should have pulled one back midway through the first half but he headed straight at Iker Casillas when Nauzet found space to cross from the right wing.

Nauzet, a recent signing from Las Palmas, went one better than his team-mate six minutes later, making it 2-1 with a wonderful, curling free-kick into the top left that even Casillas was powerless to stop.

The visitors could have equalised moments later but Sergio Ramos's last-ditch tackle denied Costa as he prepared to pull the trigger.

Madrid woke up and re-exerted their authority on the game.

Van der Vaart, who along with Granero started in place of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo and the benched Kaka, drilled a low shot just wide while Karim Benzema found good positions but was unable to find his shooting boots.

They restored a two-goal lead in the final seconds of first-half injury time thanks to a superb solo effort from left-back Marcelo, who cut inside across the edge of the penalty area and drilled a low shot into the bottom-left corner.

But Madrid looked nervy on the ball and their guests saw opportunities to hit them on the break.

One such counter saw Diego Costa nutmeg Raul Albiol with a killer through ball that Marquitos raced on to before firing past Casillas into the bottom right.

At 3-2 with over half an hour left, Madrid threatened to crumble.

Nivaldo should have equalised soon afterwards but aimed his free header straight at Casillas after more poor marking by Madrid at a corner.

The visitors still had the better chances with Nivaldo again allowed to meet a corner in the box, while a Diego Lopez half-volley was fisted clear by Casillas.

But the introduction of Higuain for the disappointing Benzema swung the game back Real's way.

The Argentina striker made it 4-2 with a delightful, 79th-minute lob after he was sent racing down the right by an inch-perfect, first time pass angled wide from half-way by Xabi Alonso.

Valladolid battled gamely and were close to pulling another back when Costa rounded Casillas but was denied by a goal-line clearance from Albiol.

Substitute Pele had a low shot fizz wide deep into injury time, but Madrid held on to their two-goal advantage to make it six wins from seven Liga matches.

Deportivo 1-0 Sevilla

Juan Rodriguez's spectacular strike gave Deportivo a 1-0 home win over in-form Sevilla.

The midfielder lashed in a shot from distance in the 38th minute, and Deportivo's well-organised defence kept the visitors at bay to make it 15 points from seven games for the Galicians.

Deportivo are behind third-placed Sevilla on goal difference, although at the end of the season head-to-head is used to separate teams.

Eurosport