Barcelona will head into El Clasico next weekend in second place in La Liga after being held to a draw at Athletic Bilbao.

Pep Guardiola's side kicked off the clash at San Mames having relinquished top spot to Real Madrid, who beat Racing Santander 1-0 earlier tonight.

The Spanish and European champions looked on course to reclaim their place at the summit when Dani Alves opened the scoring in the 54th minute, but substitute Gaizka Toquero levelled matters nine minutes later and Athletic held on for a point.

Barca were without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic and swine flu victims Yaya Toure and Eric Abidal. Rafael Marquez was also missing and has undergone tests to determine whether he too has the virus.

Despite those absentees, Guardiola opted to rest club captain Carles Puyol and Thierry Henry, who has had three days in the spotlight after his blatant handball secured France's path to the World Cup finals at the expense of the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday night.

Athletic were boosted by the presence of Spain striker Fernando Llorente, who had been a major doubt with a hip problem.

Lionel Messi brought the first save of the match from Gorka Iraizoz in the fifth minute, the Athletic stopper getting down well to his left to make a routine save from the forward's 20-yard left-footed strike.

Dimitro Chygrynskiy produced a brilliant ball in the 13th minute to the right for Pedro, who cut inside full-back Lertxundi Koikili but could not get his shot away.

Messi passed up an excellent chance in the 16th minute after being put through by a neat pass from Xavi. His superb first touch set up the opportunity but Iraizoz came out well to keep out his attempt to slot in the opener.

The diminutive Argentinian then turned provider, crossing for Seydou Keita, whose downward header struck the outside of the foot of the post on its way wide.

Messi required treatment on a nick under his eye after 20 minutes following a high challenge from Fernando Amorebieta - which went unpunished - but he was not about to let that diminish the influence he was having on the pattern of the game.

He capitalised on some slack Athletic defending just before the half-hour, making up an unlikely amount of ground and battling his way to the touchline when he could easily have gone down under a coupe of challenges. His sublime cross with the outside of his left boot found Xavi at the far post but he was unable to convert.

But the best chance of the first half fell in stoppage time to the hosts. Fran Yeste produced a perfect cross from the right for an unmarked Javi Martinez, but he could only direct his far-post header back across Victor Valdes' goal and wide.

That miss proved costly for the hosts when, nine minutes after the restart, the deadlock was broken by Dani Alves. Xavi squeezed an angled pass through to the Brazilian, who produced a calm right-footed finish across Iraizoz and into the bottom-right corner.

However, Barca were ahead for less than 10 minutes before Athletic restored parity. Llorente beat Chygrynskiy in the air and flicked on for Toquero, who had been on the field for less than seven minutes as a replacement for Pablo Orbaiz but despatched a clinical right-footed shot into Valdes' top-right corner.

Gerard Pique headed over from Xavi's cross 12 minutes from time as Barca pushed for the winner.

The visitors again went close when a deflected effort from Xavi on 83 minutes flew just wide.

The Spain midfielder then made way for Henry, who was given a frosty reception following the controversial events of midweek.

But the France forward failed to inspire a winner, leaving Barcelona a point behind Madrid heading into next Sunday's meeting with their arch rivals at the Nou Camp.