Barcelona's winning run ends

Madrid: Spanish League leader Barcelona saw its record winning run come to an end with a shock 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijon and it could have been worse had David Villa not scored a brilliant 79th-minute equaliser to salvage a point.

Barcelona had won 16 consecutive league games to beat the old mark of the great Real Madrid side of 1960-61. But the champion saw its historical sequence broken on Saturday and the two dropped points are a real boost for title rival Real.

Barcelona is now eight points ahead of Real.

The results:

Spanish League: Atletico Madrid 1 (Reyes 3) lost to Valencia 2 (Joaquin 41, 86); Sporting Gijon 1 (Barral 16) drew with Barcelona 1 (Villa 79); Racing Santander 3 (Christian 12, Rakitic 19-og, Arana 90) bt Sevilla 2 (Fazio 39, Fabiano 83-pen).

Italian League: AC Milan 4 (Seedorf 8, Cassano 17, Robinho 61, 65) bt Parma 0; Roma 0 lost to Napoli 2 (Cavani 49-pen, 83) . — Agencies