Sevilla spurned the chance to put more pressure on Valencia in the race for the Champions League spots after being held by Deportivo.

With third-placed Valencia travelling to Barcelona, Sevilla could have moved to within a point of Los Che with a victory and it was looking good when they took a first-half lead through Federico Fazio.

However, sixth-placed Depor, who are only two points behind the Andalusians, levelled up almost immediately through Adrian Lopez and despite the hosts hitting the woodwork twice and pushing hard for the win in the second half, the spoils were shared.

Athletic Bilbao saw their European aspirations dented slightly as they came up against an inspired goalkeeper at Sporting Gijon in the Primera Division this evening.

An Athletic win in Gijon would have seen the Basques go level on points with fifth-placed Mallorca, who lost 3-0 at Getafe earlier on this evening.

But Sporting keeper Juan Pablo Colinas was at the top of his game, denying the visitors with a string of superb saves, the best of which was from a penalty to deny Igor Gabilondo after 58 minutes.

Champions League-chasing Real Mallorca's poor away form returned to haunt them as they slumped to a heavy 3-0 defeat at Getafe, whose own European hopes received a big boost.

Mallorca started the weekend level with fourth-placed Sevilla on 43 points, but they missed the chance to further strengthen their push after going down to goals from Daniel Parejo, Miku and Manu Del Moral.

Parejo headed home the opener in the 32nd minute, substitute Miku made it 2-0 10 minutes from time before his fellow replacement Manu wrapped up the scoring soon after from the penalty spot.

Match Reports

Sevilla 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna

Sporting Gijon 0-0 Athletic Bilbao

Getafe 3-0 Real Mallorca