Madrid, Jan 5 (IANS): The first weekend of matches in Spain's La Liga produced two major shocks as both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona crashed to defeat away from home.
Valencia brought Real Madrid's run of 22 consecutive wins to an end in the Mestalla Stadium Sunday afternoon when they fought back from a goal down to win 2-1, reports Xinhua.
A tense game looked to swing Real Madrid's way after 15 minutes when Cristiano Ronaldo scored yet another goal from the penalty spot to put his side ahead.
The goal put Valencia on the backfoot and Real Madrid could have added to the score before the break, but failed to make the most of their chances.
They were made to pay seven minutes after the break when Pepe deflected Claudio Baragan's shot past Iker Casillas after a flowing move from the home side.
Nicolas Otamendi headed Valencia's second goal with 25 minutes remaining and although Real Madrid pressed hard for the winning goal they were unable to break down a well organised and talented Valencia who deserved all three points.
Real Madrid's defeat gave FC Barcelona the chance to come to within just one point at the top of the table if they could win away to Real Sociedad, but the Catalans failed to make the most of their opportunity as they crashed to a 0-1 defeat to a team improving under David Moyes.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique left both Lionel Messi and Neymar, who had returned later from their holidays, on the subs' bench and found his side behind after less than 90 seconds after Jordi Alba headed a cross into his own goal.
Barcelona struggled in both midfield and defence against a hard working side and it was no surprise that Messi was brought on at the start of the second half and Neymar soon after.
Although they still lacked cohesion, Barcelona did push their rivals back and could have equalised but for a fine one-on-one save from home goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
Barcelona's defeat sets up a huge game next weekend at home to Atletico Madrid, who kicked off the year with a 3-1 win at home to Levante as Antoine Griezmann showed the watching Fernando Torres he will have to work for his place in the side by scoring Atletico' s first two goals, which came after 18 and 47 minutes.
Nabil El Zhar got Levante back into the game just after the hour before Diego Godin's headed goal following another set piece 10 minutes from time killed the game off.
Nico Pareja's free kick gave Sevilla a 1-0 win at home to Celta Vigo, who have now gone seven games without a goal, although the visitors, who played for 70 minutes with 10 members after Carlos Planas was sent off for fighting, deserved a point for their efforts.
Elche and Villarreal produced an exciting game in Elche's Martin Valero Stadium as bottom of the table Elche fought back from 2-0 down.
Vietto and Uche had put Villarreal 0-2 up midway through the first half and things looked grim for Elche, but the side that is currently bottom of the table fought back before the break through Jonathas and Victor Rodriguez before half-time.
Saturday's late kick offs saw Ivan Cavalhero's first half goal give Deportivo la Coruna a 1-0 win at home to Athletic Club Bilbao, while Tomer Hemed scored twice, the second from the penalty spot, to give struggling UD Almeria a surprise 2-1 win away to high flying Malaga.
Rayo Vallecano came back from behind to win a local derby away to Getafe with goals from Jozabel Sanchez and Raul Baena.
Finally SD Eibar's incredible first season continued with a 2-1 win away to Espanyol thanks to first half goals from Manu del Moral and Eneko Boveda.