BARCELONA, Spain -- Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid both slipped up in the Spanish league on Sunday to tighten a compelling title race even further. cheap nfl jerseys . Atleticos march toward its first title since 1996 hit a bump when it lost 2-0 at Levante, although its city rival failed to make up much ground as Madrid needed a spectacular injury-time equalizer from Cristiano Ronaldo to salvage a 2-2 draw at home against Valencia. Barcelona had written off its title defence after drawing 2-2 with Getafe on Saturday, but its rivals stumbles have put it right back in the hunt. Barcelona trails Atletico by three points, while Madrid was left five points behind with an extra game to play after Ronaldo deftly used the sole of his right boot to turn in a cross in the 92nd minute. "It was a tough round for all three at the top and the league is more wide open than ever," said Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti. "I always said it would come down to the last game." Madrids draw meant that Atletico can clinch the title if it takes four points from its last two games because it holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Madrid if they end up level on points. Atletico hosts Malaga next weekend before finishing the season at Barcelonas Camp Nou. "Now the league is that much more interesting," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said after his teams nine-round winning run came to a halt at Ciutat de Valencia stadium. Levante pressed Atletico early and was rewarded when Papakouly Diops corner kick hit Atletico left back Filipe Luis in the chest. The ball bounced out of reach of scrambling goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois before settling into the net in the seventh. Atletico improved after bringing on substitutes Arda Turan and Adrian Lopez after halftime but conceded again when striker David Barral beat Courtois in the 69th. Far from bemoaning the setback, Simeone said that defeat was "the best thing that could happen" to his team to keep it focused on the run-in not only to the league title but also to the Champions League final with Madrid on May 24, a week after the league concludes. "Three weeks of high intensity and emotion await us," Simeone said. "This is the ideal moment for my men, for my players. We have three finals ahead of us and we have to concentrate on the first of those against Malaga next Sunday." Four days after its commanding 3-1 victory at Chelsea to reach the final of the Champions League, Atletico was brought down by the modest Levante side that has outperformed expectations thanks to coach Joaquin Caparros defensive focus and Keylor Navass goalkeeping. "We didnt want to mess up a title for anyone, I hope they (Atletico) win it," Barral said. "We want to finish the league in the best fashion we can." The match was marred at the finish by a group of Atletico fans who directed racist jeers at Diop. The player from Senegal responded by doing a dance. He later called for an end to such racist displays. Valencia arrived to the Bernabeu after its demoralizing exit from the Europa League semifinals when it conceded an injury-time goal to Sevilla on Thursday, while Madrid was flying high from its rout of Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Valencia turned to a set piece to grab the lead in the 44th when defender Jeremy Mathieu got in front of Raphael Varane inside the six-yard box to head in a corner kick. Ancelotti sent on Angel Di Maria at halftime to spark Madrids attack, and the forward lobbed a ball for Ronaldo to flick on for Sergio Ramos to nod home in the 59th and add to his two goals against Bayern. Valencia wasnt done, however, and Dani Parejo drove in a squared pass from Feghouli in the 65th after Seydou Keita had won the ball in midfield to start the move. Ronaldo then appeared to save Madrid from a costly defeat by flicking in Di Marias cross to take his league-leading tally to 31 goals this season. He reached 50 goals in all competitions for the fourth straight season. Elsewhere, Ramon Azeezs last-gasp goal gave 10-man Almeria a 3-2 win at home over relegated Real Betis to help pull his team out of the drop zone, while Sevilla drew 0-0 at home with Villarreal. wholesale nfl jerseys . Goals from Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo secured Citys 10th consecutive win over the Magpies as Manuel Pellegrinis high-scoring team extended its unbeaten run in all competitions to 15 games. But the result did not reflect the intensity of a game overshadowed by referee Mike Jones decision to disallow Cheikh Tiotes apparent equalizer, ruling that Yoan Gouffran interfered with play in an offside position.wholesale jerseys . Chelsea led through Gary Cahills 60th-minute deflected shot but Sergio Aguero levelled the scores in the 78th with a penalty and Samir Nasri scored the winner seven minutes later following an exchange of passes with Carlos Tevez, who returned to action after six months away. NASHVILLE -- The Nashville Predators showed little southern hospitality to their former neighbours from Atlanta. Pekka Rinne made 24 saves to lead the Predators to a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night. Matt Halischuk, Gabriel Bourque and Shea Weber scored for Nashville, which snapped a two-game losing streak by beating the Jets. Tim Stapleton had the lone goal for the Jets, who have lost three of four. One night after rallying from a three goal-deficit and winning in overtime at Washington, the Jets lost their 21st road game of the season. "You look at the game, we got shots, but very few quality shots, very few scoring chances," Winnipeg coach Claude Noel said. "It was very little penetration inside the dots. Very few second and third opportunities, and I thought they did a good job of keeping us to the outside. It was a tough night to get on the inside of anything." Before moving to Winnipeg and changing their nickname, the Jets were the Atlanta Thrashers, and were located just over 200 miles from Music City. Halischuk scored the first goal at 2:56 of the second period. After a faceoff deep in the Nashville zone, Alexander Radulov carried the puck into the neutral zone. At the centre-ice dot, he found Halischuk on his right. Without breaking stride, Halischuk entered Winnipegs zone and pulled up at the top of the right faceoff dot. From there, he fired a slap shot over the glove of Ondrej Pavelec for his 13th goal. "I saw a little bit of net on the right side there," Halischuk said. "I was just trying to get a quick, hard shot." Radulov has a goal and an assist in two games since returning to the NHL after spending the last four seasons in Russias KHL. "They have big guys in the lineup, especially with Radulov right now," Pavelec said. "I think he played really well. Thee team is better with him. cheap jerseys. " Midway through the second, Bourque doubled Nashvilles lead. Nick Spalings shot from the high slot hit the stick of Winnipeg defenceman Randy Jones in front, and Bourque quickly tapped it past Pavelec low to the glove side. Spalings assist ended a 12-game drought without a point. Stapleton drew the Jets to within one at 12:53 of the third. From behind the Nashville net, Spencer Machacek spotted Stapleton skating through the low slot. Stapleton split two Nashville players and had an easy tap-in for his 11th goal. "Obviously, when it was 2-1 it got a little tight," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We were losing some faceoffs, and when we did, we didnt execute getting them out." Weber finished the scoring with an empty-net, power-play goal from near centre ice with 10.1 seconds remaining in the third. The first period remained scoreless in large part because of a blocked shot by Nashville defenceman Kevin Klein. Rinne was out of his crease after making a stop on Andrew Ladd, but the puck came right back to the Jets captain in the slot. Klein filled the vacated crease well and deflected Ladds wrist shot to the right corner. "It was one of those things. It was just reactionary," Klein said. "Peks, he bails me out enough, so it is nice to chip in." NOTES: Nashville killed Winnipegs only power play of the game. The Predators have been short-handed just once in each of their last four games. . Nashville RW Jordin Tootoo was a healthy scratch. Before Saturday, his only two missed games this season were because of an NHL suspension resulting from his hit on Buffalo G Ryan Miller on Dec. 3. . The Jets are 1-23-3 when trailing after two periods. . Winnipeg RW Chris Thorburn missed his sixth consecutive game because of an undisclosed lower body injury. ' ' '
