MADRID — Valencia stumbled in the battle with Atletico Madrid and Sevilla for third place in La Liga when it conceded a late Aritz Aduriz equalizer in a bad-tempered 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao Thursday. The three clubs are battling it out for both third place and a lucrative automatic berth in the Champions League group stage and fourth, which carries a spot in qualifying for Europe's elite club competition. With eight games left, Atletico is third on 65 points after it won 2-0 at home to Real Sociedad Tuesday, three ahead of Valencia in fourth. Sevilla, 2-1 winner at Levante Tuesday, is fifth on 61 points. Barcelona leads on 74 points, four ahead of second-placed Real Madrid. Bilbao came close to an opener in the 56th minute at the San Mames when an Aduriz header was cleared off the line by Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi. Substitute Rodrigo De Paul fired Valencia ahead five minutes later when Paco Alcacer cleverly let the ball run past him and De Paul clipped a shot past Gorka Iraizoz into the corner of the home goal. Otamendi was shown a straight red card six minutes from time for a dangerous tackle on Mikel San Jose which prompted an unseemly bout of pushing and shoving between the two sides. Bilbao made the extra man count and Aduriz pounced on a loose ball in the 90th minute to rescue a point for the Basque club, which has recovered well from a poor start to the campaign and are eighth on 40 points. Villarreal, which is sixth, remains well placed to secure a place in the Europa League despite a 3-0 defeat at ninth-placed Espanyol, while Getafe pulled away from the relegation places with a 1-0 win at fellow struggler Elche. Ronaldo yellow card rescinded Real Madrid's appeal against a yellow card shown to forward Cristiano Ronaldo in Wednesday's 2-0 La Liga win at Rayo Vallecano has been granted by the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF), the club said Friday. The federation's decision means Ronaldo can play in Saturday's game at home to Eibar. It was the Portugal captain's fifth booking and would have resulted in a one-match suspension. Ronaldo was cautioned after the referee ruled he had dived to try to win a penalty although television replays clearly showed he had been felled by a Rayo defender. Kuyt to return ‘home' Dirk Kuyt has revealed he will return to Feyenoord at the end of the season, the Dutch club where he made his name a decade ago. The former Netherlands international has been playing in Turkey at Fenerbahce since 2012, having spent six successful seasons with Liverpool. — Agencies
