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MADRID, Spain -- Barcelona stumbled to a 3-2 home loss against Valencia on Saturday, giving Atletico Madrid a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the Spanish league. The Spanish champions decision not to sign a defender during the January transfer window may have backfired after Valencia took advantage of a lethargic, uninspired effort by its hosts at the Camp Nou, where former Spain coach Luis Aragones -- who previously coached the Catalan side -- was honoured after his death on Saturday. Barcelona led through Alexis Sanchezs eighth-minute goal but Dani Parejo equalized for Valencia before the break. Pablo Piatti headed Valencia ahead after the restart before Lionel Messis penalty -- and first league goal since September -- levelled the game again. But Barcelonas defence let Sofiane Feghouli burst free into the area to set up Paco Alcacers 59th-minute winner. Barcelona played with 10 men from the 78th after Jodi Alba was shown a second yellow card. The defeat means Atletico can lead the league alone for the first time this season if it does not lose at home to Real Sociedad on Sunday, when Real Madrid can also overtake its greatest rival with a victory at fourth-place Athletic Bilbao. Also on Saturday, Levante and Rayo Vallecano played to a scoreless draw, as did Getafe and Valladolid, while Malaga rallied to beat Sevilla 3-2 in an entertaining encounter. At the top of the standings, Atletico and Barcelona share 54 points, while Madrid has 53. Valencia provisionally moved into eighth. Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino was preoccupied by Barcelonas drop in play after just half an hour. "Im always worried after every one of our losses," Martino said. "Despite us having played well for a while against Valencia, Im very worried, much like the players are." Messi set up the opener after slashing a pass across the box beyond the far post where Alexis connected oddly to float it over goalkeeper Diego Alves. Valencia took control from the 44th when Parejo exploited a turnover inside the Barcelona half to lead a breakout with Feghouli, who returned a pass inside the area for Parejo to score easily. "Their goal hurt us and, in the second half, the team failed to respond," said defender Javier Mascherano, who refused to blame the off-field distractions that have enveloped Barcelona. "Today it wasnt the distractions that beat us, but Valencia. The margin of error (to be champion) is zero." Valencia went ahead in the 48th when the 1.63-meter (5-foot-3) Piatti held off Dani Alves to jump high and head a looping ball over goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Valencia was unlucky as Pedro Rodriguezs shot came off Ricardo Costa to set up the spot kick, even though it appeared Costa had no chance of getting out of the way as the ball grazed his shoulder. Messi slotted home his ninth league goal in the 54th, and first since Sept. 28 against Almeria. Barcelonas defence was dormant five minutes later as Feghouli moved past three players to the goal line before cutting back to meet Alcacer, who blasted past Valdes for the winner. Messi had a golden opportunity to draw Barcelona even in the second minute of stoppage time, but he shot wide after precisely combining with Dani Alves and substitute Andres Iniesta to get free into the box. Valencia, which was Spains most active team in the January transfer, snapped a five-game winless run to deal Barcelona its first home league defeat in nearly two years. Malaga captain and winger Duda proved the hero at Rosaleda Stadium as he took advantage of Alberto Morenos silly clearance attempt to gather inside the area and lift the winning goal past goalkeeper Beto in the 82nd. Dudas penalty put the hosts ahead after half an hour before Sevilla scored a pair of unanswered goals through Carlos Baccas 10th of the season and Federico Fazios header in the 66th. Samuel Sanchez pegged home the equalizer in the 77th as Malaga rallied for an emotional victory during which coach Bernd Schuster was red-carded in stoppage time. Malaga moved four points clear of Valladolid and the last relegation spot. Authentic Wholesale Nike Shoes . Inter Milan ended its five-match winless streak in all competitions by beating 10-man Bologna 3-1 on new manager Claudio Ranieris debut, while injury-plagued AC Milan edged Cesena 1-0 with an early goal from Clarence Seedorf. Cheap Nike Shoes Womens . Louis and Ryan Kesler have demanded to be traded. http://www.shoesnikecheap.com/. The Red Sox maintained a share of the AL wild-card lead Tuesday night, using four home runs to beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-7 and set up a dramatic conclusion to the regular season. The skidding Red Sox were 6-19 this month before rebounding to edge the last-place Orioles. Nike Shoes Cheap China .C. -- Panthers offensive tackle Jordan Gross is saying goodbye to the NFL after 11 seasons. Wholesale Nike Shoes China . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics.BOSTON – Its not yet June and thanks to the advent of the two wild card spots in each league, only two of 30 teams can make the argument to their fans that theyre out of the playoff hunt. With apologies to the Arizona Diamondbacks, a club that made offseason moves with the intention of contending and will now give new hire Tony La Russa time to assess the damage of a disastrous start, the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs have dropped far enough in the standings to consider the postseason unachievable. The Cubs have a prized piece at the front of their starting rotation. He is 29-year-old Jeff Samardzija, the ace of a bad baseball team whos expected to top the wish list of teams looking to bolster their pitching staffs ahead of the important games of August and September. Dont let the numbers fool you. Samardzija is good. The Cubs are not good. He is winless in nine starts this season despite posting a big league-best 1.62 ERA. In fact, Samardzijas winless skid stretches to 16 if you go back to last year. Chicago, with its impotent offence, doesnt score him any runs. An even crueler fate: Samardzija pitched seven scoreless innings against the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, departing with a 2-0 lead, only to watch his closer and defence implode in the ninth. The Cubs lost in extra innings. Word around the Blue Jays is if the club is in contention approaching the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, ownership would be willing to loosen the purse strings to acquire additional help. Toronto needs help in its starting rotation with two spots in perpetual question. J.A. Happ is filling one at the moment. Somebody will fill the other come Saturday. Its expected to be Liam Hendriks, a former Minnesota Twin whos off to a strong start at Triple-A Buffalo. Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro was a Cub last year and caught Samardzija 10 times. "Hes really good," said Navarro. "I think hes one of those guys the numbers last year didnt show what hes capable of. Hes a horse. He wants the ball. He wants to win. Hes still got that football mentality. Hes that type of player." Samardzija features a sinking fastball, which he pumps up at 91 miles per hour at the low end, 97 at the high end.dddddddddddd Hell spike a splitter; he throws a backdoor slider and a cut fastball. "Hes got everything, man," said Navarro. "Hes got it." Should Samardzija land in the American League East, a real possibility considering the interest hell likely draw not just from the Blue Jays but also the injury-riddled Yankees and maybe others, hell quickly find himself in a home run-friendly division with home run-friendly parks and lineups that stretch deep. Its not the National League Central. Navarro doesnt think he would have a problem adjusting. "I believe so," said Navarro. "I think hes a strikeout pitcher. Hes a swing and miss type of guy. I believe that hes got what it takes. I think the most important thing that hes got is hes a really competitive guy and he wants to win. Obviously hes going to have to make some adjustments coming from the NL Central to the American League East but I think hes going to be a huge asset if we get the opportunity to get him." The Cubs reported asking price for Samardzija in the offseason involved both top pitching prospects Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman. Needless to say that would be a steep price to pay. It may, however, be the going rate. With so many teams jumbled around the .500 mark and no sign of that changing in the foreseeable future, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer should have a number of intriguing offers to peruse. If Cliff Lees elbow problem is anything serious for the Phillies, another potential chip comes off the market and Samardzijas price goes up further. How about that? The perpetually weak Cubs will be dealing from a position of strength. CHECK OUT THE PODCAST Episode 5 of The Baseball Podcast, #TBP, is available online. TSN 1050 contributors Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star and Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com and I discuss Fenway Park, the Blue Jays red hot offence, the persistent issues with the back end of the starting rotation, Jose Reyes defence and whether the media is too easy on general manager Alex Anthopoulos. Click here to listen. ' ' '