The result also meant Barcelona failed to win away in the Primera Division for the first time this season.

Relegation-threatened Sporting took the lead through a fine David Barral effort after 16 minutes, and it looked as if they may hold on for a shock victory until David Villa's sublime chip against his former club rescued a point for the Catalans.

Joaquin Sanchez scored both goals as Valencia hit back from going a goal down early on to defeat Atletico Madrid 2-1, whose miserable start to 2011 shows no sign of abating.

Atletico had lost their previous four matches without managing a single goal to leave coach Quique Sanchez Flores under increasing pressure, but they gained an early advantage when Jose Antonio Reyes put them ahead after just three minutes.

However, the Rojiblancos could not keep hold of the lead and Valencia drew level just before the break through Joaquin.

Diego Forlan then missed a penalty for Atletico at the start of the second half before Valencia claimed all three points when captain Joaquin netted their winner four minutes from time.

Atletico lost centre-back Diego Godin to a straight red card after that, capping another miserable night for the capital club, who have now lost six of their last seven league and cup games.

Manuel Arana capitalised on a howler by Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop to claim an injury-time winner for Racing Santander as they made a perfect start to Marcelino Garcia Toral's tenure with a 3-2 victory.

Arana lobbed the ball into an empty net after Palop had needlessly charged out of the penalty area in a thrilling match at El Sardinero.

Christian Fernandez had an unforgettable game, scoring the opener before conceding a penalty - which, luckily for him, was missed - and then getting sent off for a bad challenge - all before half-time.

Ivan Rakitic's own goal made it 2-0 to Racing before Christian's red card with Sevilla pulling one back through Federico Fazio.

The visitors levelled through Luis Fabiano's 83rd-minute penalty and appeared to be the only likely winners before Arana's late intervention.