LFP
Levante hold Barca
Afp, Madrid
Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard paid for his decision to rest Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho as his league leaders slipped up at Levante where they were held 1-1. Rijkaard had decided to rest the world player of the year ahead of Tuesday's crucial Champions League clash with Germany's Werder Bremen. The reigning European champions must win that game or become the first reigning Champions to be eliminated at the first league stage since the Champions League was formed in 1992. Andres Iniesta was brought into to replace the samba star with Deco afforded the task of pulling the strings behind lone striker Eidur Gudjohnson. But the gamble did not pay off despite Portuguese midfielder Deco's brilliant first half freekick giving the visitors the lead on 40 minutes. The Brazilian born star, who was also a Champions League winner with Porto in 2004, picked himself off the floor after he was brought down 20 yeards from goal to curl a delightful freekick in off the near post. Barcelona dominated but made a number of mistakes at the back and goalkeeper Victor Valdes was often called into action to save his defence's blushes. And Barca were made to pay for that sloppiness as Brazilian defender Luis Alvaro found himself unmarked at the back post to score from an Olivier Kapo freekick. The dropped points mean Barca could lose top spot on Sunday if their city rivals Espanyol lose at home to second placed Sevilla. Bitter rivals Real Madrid could also close their gap to the Catalans to a single point if they win at home to Atletic Bilbao. Meanwhile freefalling Valencia are stuck in eighth spot, 12 points off the pace, after their third league defeat in a row and sixth match without a win. Crippled by a long injury list that includes the likes of David Villa, Fernando Morientes, Luis Miguel and David Albelda, Valencia fell to an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to newly-promoted Recreativo Huelva. Earlier in the season Valencia topped the table but two points from their last six games has all but ended their title hopes. Aitor Tornavaca opened the scoring in the first minute after latching onto the rebound when Javi Guerrero's shot came back off the woodwork. French former Liverpool forward Florent Sinama-Pongolle sealed the win eight minutes from time to move Recreativo into fifth place.
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