Barcelona cut Real's lead to four

MADRID, Spain -- Barcelona moved to within four points of Spanish Primera Liga leaders Real Madrid by beating Valladolid 4-1, while Real crashed to a 3-2 home defeat by cup finalists Valencia.

Seventeen-year-old Bojan Krkic scored twice and laid on other goals for Samuel Eto'o and Andres Iniesta in their impressive win.

Barcelona had been beaten by Valencia in their midweek cup semifinal, but their conquerors did them a big favor by snatching a dramatic win in Madrid after trailing 2-1. Angel Arizmendi fired in the 88th minute winner

Barca coach Frank Rijkaard, who had heard more doubts expressed about his future after the midweek cup flop, said: "The players wanted to make a point and they deserve credit for their reaction to the cup defeat."

"Now I hope our injured players can recover as soon as possible and that we have Deco, (Rafael) Marquez and Ronaldinho back soon."

Krcic set up Barcelona's 23rd minute opener for Eto'o, who converted the cross for his 11th goal of the campaign.

Five minutes later Valladolid were back on terms with a 30th minute penalty converted by Jonathan Sesma.

Two minutes after the restart Iniesta restored Barcelona's lead from Krkic's flick-on and the youngster was on target in the 61st minute, when he pounced on a loose ball, and again six minutes from time, from Eto'o's pass.

Real played their game later and were again without Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy, out with an ankle injury, but welcomed back Sergio Ramos from a two-match suspension.

In the previous meting of the sides this season Real were 4-0 up after just 36 minutes but Valencia took the lead this time, after 33 minutes through David Villa.

Villa, a probable transfer target for Real this summer, broke the offside trap to curl the ball beyond his Spanish international team-mate Iker Casillas.

Within a minute Real captain Raul headed in a Robinho cross to equalize and 10 minutes after the interval he sent the leaders ahead from Guti's precision pass..

Valencia drew level from the penalty spot after 66 minutes when Brazilian defender Pepe was adjudged to have fouled Daniel Silva and Villa hammered past Casillas.

With two minutes left Arizmendi hit the winner which throws the championship race wide open.

"It is hugely disappointing to have lost this match but that is football," said Real coach Bernd Schuster. "The truth is that recently we have been made to pay for our mistakes.

"I have already told some players that sometimes in these matches it is better to settle for the draw. It wasn't necessary to risk so much to create a chance."

Valencia moved up to 10th and coach Ronald Koeman said: "The last few days have been fantastic with wins over Barcelona and now Real.We are more relaxed now and this team is capable of playing really well."

Villarreal stayed two points behind Barcelona in third by winning 2-1 against bottom club Levante.

It was coach Manuel Pellegrini's 200th game in charge of Villarreal and Guille Franco made it a winning one with an 82nd minute decider.

Villarreal are now nine points clear of fifth-placed Racing but Pellegrini is not getting complacent.

"We do not have enough points until we are mathematically certain of qualification for the Champions League," he said.

Espanyol's Champions League hopes suffered a major blow with an embarrassing 4-0 thrashing by struggling Real Murcia.

A brace from Ivan Alonso helped Murcia to topple Espanyol who fall five points adrift of the Champions League spots.

It was a first win in charge for Murcia coach Javier Clemente against his former club and they are now six points from safety.

Racing, defeated by Getafe in their Kings Cup semifinal, took advantage of Espanyol's slip with a 2-0 win against Recreativo which moves them three points behind fourth-placed Atletico Madrid. E-mail to a friend