Barcelona held by Malaga

Published February 05, 2015

Malaga, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Barcelona's perfect start to the La Liga season came to an end on Wednesday as the Catalans were held to a scoreless draw by Malaga at the Estadio La Rosaleda.

Coming off a 5-0 drubbing of Levante, Luis Enrique's club was looking to expand its lead atop the table, but Malaga provided a stern challenge as neither side created much in the way of scoring chances over the course of the 90 minutes.

Malaga actually had the better of the play in the second half, especially after the introduction of Liverpool loanee Luis Alberto, who entered the match in the 67th minute and created several scoring chances for his side.

But neither club could find the back of the net and they were forced to settle for a share of the spoils. The result sees Barcelona improve to 13 points on the season, while Malaga remain in 10th place with six points.

Also in La Liga on Wednesday, Leo Baptistao netted on either side of the intermission as Rayo Vallecano earned its first win of the season with a 2-1 result over Athletic Bilbao at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas.

Defending champions Atletico Madrid earned three points with a 1-0 win over Almeria courtesy of a 60th-minute goal from Miranda, while Mikel Arruabarrena and Gerard Moreno traded goals as Eibar and Villarreal played to a 1-1 draw.

Ruben Garcia scored in the 46th minute to lift Levante to a 1-0 win over Granada, while Gerard Deulofeu netted in the 18th minute to help Sevilla claim a 1-0 result over Real Sociedad.

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