Valencia held by Levante

Valencia were jeered and whistled by fans unimpressed by their team wasting another lead [EPA]

Valencia squandered another lead as they drew 1-1 with Levante on Sunday, endangering their hold on third place in Spain’s Primera Division.

For the sixth time in their last eight games, Valencia failed to secure a win after scoring first and dropped valuable points at home.

Elsewhere, Radamel Falcao scored his 20th Spanish league goal of the season as Atletico Madrid cruised past Getafe 3-0.

Missed chances

Levante were the more dangerous side early on at Mestalla stadium, but their cross-town rivals Valencia went ahead 10 minutes before half-time with a move started by Aritz Aduriz, playing instead of the suspended Roberto Soldado.

The Basque striker threaded a superb short pass through a trio of defenders and Sofiane Feghouli laid the ball off for Jonas to tap into the empty net.

Arouna Kone equalised for Levante through a counterattack in the 54th.

Results & fixtures

Saturday 31 March Sporting Gijon 1-2 Zaragoza Racing 0-1 Granada Osasuna 1-5 Real Madrid Barcelona 2-0 Athletic Bilbao Malaga 0-2 Real Betis Sunday 1 April Atletico Madrid 3-0 Getafe Valencia 1-1 Levante Sociedad 4-0 Rayo Villarreal 0-0 Espanyol Monday 2 April Sevilla v Mallorca

After recovering the ball in midfield, Jose Barkero lofted a long ball into the area that Valdo Lopez headed down for Kone to fire in and take his league goal tally to 11 this season.

The draw left Valencia one point ahead of fourth-place Malaga and three points in front of fifth-place Levante with eight matches to play.

Spain’s top four finishers qualify for the European Champions League.

Atletico got going in the 24th as Eduardo Salvio continued his impressive play with the Argentine forward heading Filipe Luis’ cross high over goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya to land under the far corner.

Brazilian playmaker Diego headed Falcao’s cross off the crossbar and volleyed home the rebound to make it 2-0 in the 62nd. Falcao guided home Juanfran Torres’ cross in the 77th minute to cap an easy victory at the Vicente Calderon stadium.

Atletico climbed within five points of fourth-place Malaga and the last Champions League qualifying spot.

Getafe are three points behind their Spanish capital neighbours.

In the late games Real Sociedad thrashed Rayo Vallecano 4-0 in San Sebastian to end a three-game losing run, while Villarreal remained undefeated in three matches under new coach Miguel Angel Lotina following a 0-0 home draw with Espanyol.

Saturday action

On Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to power Real Madrid’s 5-1 rout of Osasuna, while Barcelona stayed within six points of the league leaders with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.

Also, Zaragoza escaped last place with a 2-1 win over now bottom Sporting Gijon, Granada left Racing Santander in the penultimate position with a 1-0 away win, and Real Betis beat Malaga 2-1 to end their six-game unbeaten run.

Sevilla look for their third consecutive victory at Mallorca on Monday.