Real suffer Valencia blow
Real Madrid suffered a huge blow to their hopes of retaining their league title after losing 3-2 to Valencia at the Santiago Bernabeu.The champions, who had led 2-1 thanks to Raul's double, saw David Villa notch an equaliser from the spot before Javier Arizmendi's last minute strike gave the visitors all three points.
The result means Real's lead is down to four points from second place Barcelona, while Villarreal are just a couple of points further back.
Valencia arrived in the Spanish capital without a league win in their past six games, but after dumping Barcelona out of the Kings Cup, there was no shortage of confidence in the visitors' ranks.
And it didn't take long for them to get into their stride as Villa fired them into an early lead with an exquisite finish from close-range.
But the lead lasted just over a minute as Raul headed home Robinho's cross to restore parity.
Real started the second-half at breakneck speed and it was little surprise when Raul grabbed his second of the evening, taking Guti's pass in his stride before firing home past Timo Hildebrand.
The home side appeared to have control of the game with Valencia struggling to create anything of note.
But when Fabio Cannavaro brought down Villa inside the penalty area, the Spain international dusted himself off before firing home the resulting spot kick.
With Real pushing forward in search of a winner, Hildebrand was forced to produce a couple of world class saves to deny Raul and Gonzalo Higuain.
And with the champions pushing forward, Valencia launched a lightning quick counter attack, leaving Arizmendi to slot the ball home and silence the home crowd.
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