Morientes helps Real grab win over Valencia

An opportunist strike from centre forward Fernando Morientes allowed Real Madrid to snatch a 1-0 win over Valencia in an absorbing and highly entertaining encounter at the Bernabeu on Sunday.

With Deportivo Coruna slumping to a 3-0 defeat at Valladolid, the result allowed Real to stretch their lead at the top of the Spanish league to four points over Athletic Bilbao, who beat Real Sociedad 2-1 in Saturday's Basque derby.

Celta Vigo, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Osasuna, lead a chasing pack of five teams on 33 points, while Barcelona move up to fourth after Rivaldo inspired them to an impressive 3-1 win over Sevilla.

Despite the narrowness of the result the Real Madrid game was full of open attacking football, with frequent scoring chances for both sides.

Unlike so many visiting teams to the Bernabeu, Valencia were not intimidated by their opponents and took the game to Real from the first whistle.

Romanian striker Adrian Ilie was denied a goal for a non-existent offside with just two minutes on the clock after his brilliant header sailed past Iker Casillas and into the far corner.

Minutes later Ruben Baraja forced an acrobatic full-stretch save from Casillas with a well-struck 18-metre free kick.

But Real hit back immediately and were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty after Raul kept his feet following a foul by Mauricio Pellegrino in the area.

STUNNING SAVE

The champions were then denied an almost certain goal by a stunning save from Santiago Canizares. The Valencia keeper somehow got a hand to a bullet header from Ivan Helguera as the ball was about to cross the line.

The pace slackened in the second half, but it was Real's Morientes who delivered the killer blow as he poached the only goal of the game in the 72nd minute.

The centre forward poked home after David Albelda had failed to control a Figo cross which had ricocheted off one of his team mates.

The game at the Nou Camp took just five minutes to burst into life when Tomas latched on to a Pablo Alfaro header to clip in at the far post and give Sevilla a surprise lead against Barcelona.

But the visitors barely had time to celebrate as Rivaldo finished off a superbly-worked move to equalise three minutes later.

The Brazilian feigned to shoot with his right and then drilled home with his left after Patrick Kluivert had prised open the Sevilla defence with an exquisite backheel.

RUNNING THE SHOW

Rivaldo proceeded to run the show for the home side, but the Brazilian made an uncharacteristic error when he missed a penalty eight minutes from the break.

Alfaro had held back the Barca forward as he darted inside the Sevilla box, but keeper Antonio Notario guessed right and saved the Brazilian's somewhat hesitant penalty.

But Rivaldo more than made up for his miss.

His swerving free kick 12 minutes into the second half could not be gathered by Notario and Gabri gave Barca the lead as he slotted home the rebound.

Four minutes later Rivaldo completed his masterclass as he spun another pin-point free kick over the wall and inside the near post to secure the Barca win.

Former leaders Deportivo continued their miserable run of away form as they slumped to a thoroughly-deserved defeat at Valladolid.

An opener from Alberto Marcos and a neatly-taken double from Fernando secured the win to leave the Galician side with just one point from their last seven away games.