Madrid, Dec 02: Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, traditional giants of Spanish football and ever present in the first division, slipped out of the top six after mediocre performances Sunday.
Barca could not overcome visiting Valladolid and fought out a grim 0-0 draw which meant they slid to eighth.
It will be little consolation that Barcelona had the best chance of the match when Dutch international Giovanni Van Bronckhorst hit the post midway through the second half.
"I'm not happy with the result but I am satisfied with the effort of my players," said Barca coach Frank Rijkaard.
"The only thing I can complain about is that we made a few errors with our finishing but we had to play a team that chose to be ultra-defensive."



Valladolid coach Fernando Vazquez made it clear after the game that thay had come to the Camp Nou with the specific intention of hanging on for a draw.



"Maybe we could have been lucky and got a goal but I'm happy with a point," said Vazquez.



Athletic's run of five successive home victories came to an end in torrential rain with Racing Santander beating the Basques 2-1 in the San Mames Stadium.



Jonan Garcia got Athletic off to a perfect start, the 20-year-old midfielder tapping home a Ismael Urzaiz cross after seven minutes for his first goal in the top flight.


Bureau Report