La Liga leaders Valencia sank Athletic Bilbao 2-1 after an exciting conclusion at the Mestalla.

Aritz Aduriz headed them in front inside 11 minutes, after being set up at close range by Roberto Soldado. A quick break by Alejandro Dominguez created the second in injury time for Vicente, but the scoring was not finished as Igor Gabilondo fired home a free-kick with his left foot to halve the deficit.

Florent Sinama Pongolle grabbed a quick-fire double to help ten-man Zaragoza pull of an unlikely comeback and claim a draw against Sporting Gijon.

The home side, who were bottom of the table heading into this game, looked down and out when an Ivan Obradovic own-goal and a penalty from Diego Castro put them two goals down. They were also down to ten men after Jiri Jarosik was dismissed for giving away the spot-kick, but Sinama Pongolle struck twice in four minutes to earn a share of the spoils.

Bravo hands frustrate Espanyol
Real Sociedad ended a three-match losing streak by seeing off Espanyol thanks to a late own-goal from visiting defender Juan Forlin at the Anoeta. An evenly-matched encounter looked destined to finish in a draw until Forlin inadvertently put the ball into his own net as he acrobatically tried to clear the danger, after Jeffrey Sarpong's free-kick had come back off the woodwork.

That was in the 86th minute and proved to be the winner, although Sociedad were indebted to goalkeeper Claudio Bravo for keeping their lead intact after he produced two brilliant saves in stoppage time, leaving Espanyol still without any points or goals away from home.