Valencia, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Barcelona dropped points in league play for just the fourth time season as the Catalans were held to a 1-1 draw by Levante on Sunday at the Ciutat de Valencia.
The defending champions were a bit shorthanded as they played without Brazilian starlet Neymar, who was injured in the club's Copa del Rey fixture on Thursday and will miss several weeks of action.
Levante opened the scoring 10 minutes in as Loukas Vyntra sent a clean header past Victor Valdes following a corner kick. But the Catalans answered nine minutes later when Gerard Pique fired home a cross from Xavi.
Barcelona dominated possession throughout the match and put six shots on target, but Levante's back line held firm to claim a point.
The result sees Barcelona maintain the top spot in La Liga on goal difference, while Levante stays in 11th place on 24 points.
Also in La Liga on Sunday, Imanol Agirretxe netted a first-half brace at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez to give Real Sociedad a quick 2-0 lead against Getafe, but the visiting side failed to hold the advantage as goals from Ciprian Marica and Pedro Leon rescued a point for Getafe.
Ikechukwu Uche scored three minutes into proceedings and Bruno converted a penalty kick three minutes from time to hand Villarreal a 2-0 win over Almeria at the El Madrigal. Villarreal moves into fourth place in La Liga with the victory, while Almeria remains three points clear of the drop zone.
In Sunday's final La Liga fixture, Atletico Madrid wasted an opportunity to claim sole possession of first place after being held to a 1-1 draw with Sevilla at the Vicente Calderon.
David Villa gave the home side a quick lead with a goal in the 18th minute, but Sevilla battled back and claimed the equalizer through an Ivan Rakitic penalty kick in the 73rd minute.
Sevilla went down to 10 men in the final minute of normal time when Alberto was shown a red card, but Atletico couldn't muster a winning goal and was forced to settle for a point.
