MADRID: Champions League hopefuls Deportivo La Coruna and Valencia battled to a drab 0-0 stalemate in the Spanish League on Sunday.

A victory at the Riazor would have put Valencia in third place, behind Barcelona and Real Madrid, while Deportivo also had the chance to move into the top four, but the game failed to live up to its billing. Depor shaded the match thanks in part to the excellent Juan Carlos Valeron but Valencia's strong organisation made them difficult to break down.

The best chances fell to Adrian Lopez and Sergio Gonzalez while Valeron himself came closest ending the deadlock with a header which came back off the crossbar before half time. Valencia stay in fourth spot, 10 points behind Barca while Deportivo are sixth, 12 points off the top.

Atletico Madrid continued their disappointing run with a 1-1 draw at Tenerife, a result of little benefit to the relegation-threatened sides. Juan 'Nino' Martinez put Tenerife ahead after three minutes, converting a knockdown by Alejandro Alfaro, but Jose Jurado equalised for Atletico, who were without their talismanic striker Sergio Aguero through injury. Nino missed several chances to give Tenerife victory, none better than a penalty before half-time which goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo parried well.

Mallorca failed to consolidate their place among the candidates for a place in Europe after crashing 2-1 against Malaga. Fernando Fernandez seized on a loose ball in the area to score after 23 minutes but Mallorca equalised through Julio Alvarez and were in the ascendancy when Malaga, who had not won since the first week of the season, struck again with Fernando Forestieri heading home.

Villarreal continued their upward march with a 2-0 win over Racing Santander, their third victory in succession. The home side dominated the game but did not make their advantage pay until the second half with goals from Joseba Llorente and Giuseppe Rossi.

Espanyol registered their first goals in five games to beat Almeria 2-0 and put further pressure on visiting coach Hugo Sanchez. In his first match in the starting line-up Javi Marquez scored after 45 minutes and Ferran Corominas made sure of the win with a second goal late on.

A last-minute strike by Haris Medunjanin gave Valladolid a 2-1 victory at home to Sporting Gijon. Nivaldo Batista cancelled out a goal from the visitors by Luis Moran and the winner from Medunjanin was no more than Valladolid deserved, having squandered a number of gilt-edged chances.