By DPA
Madrid : A disappointing 1-1 draw at lowly Valladolid leaves Catalan giants Barcelona four points behind Spanish Primera Liga football leaders Real Madrid.
The draw Thursday night keeps Barcelona in second place on 21 points with Villarreal, who beat Levante 3-0 Wednesday. Real, also 5-1 winners over Valencia Wednesday, are four points ahead, with 25 points from 10 games.
Barcelona, who have won just once in five away games this season, fell behind in Valladolid after 16 minutes when Joseba Llorente turned in the rebound after his first attempt had been blocked by goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
Ronaldinho equalized for the visitors in the 41st minute after being cleverly set up by playmaker Xavi Hernandez.
Barcelona were expected to dominate the second half but – as they did so often last season – dropped their rhythm and created few chances. It was the hosts who look more likely to break the stalemate, and Valdes had to pull off sharp saves late from Ogbeche and Vivar Dorado.
“This is not a great result for us,” admitted Barca captain Carles Puyol. “We were too slow tonight, really, and they made things difficult for us.”
Barca were without Frenchmen Eric Abidal and Thierry Henry, who could both be fit for Sunday’s home clash against struggling Real Betis.
Valladolid has managed to avoid defeat at home against both Barca and Real but is still second from bottom with just seven points.
Thursday’s other match was a scrappy, disjointed goalless draw between Espanyol and Murcia, with seven yellow cards – far outnumbering goal chances.
Espanyol would have moved up to fourth, level with Atletico Madrid, had they won. Instead, they stay in fifth place with 18, level with crisis club Valencia.