Valencia’s Pablo Aimar (right) vies for the ball with Carles Puyol during their Spanish league match on Sunday. (AFP)

Madrid: Valencia breathed new life into the Spanish title race on Sunday, snatching a 1-0 win at home to Barcelona that left them just six points behind the champions at the top of the table.

The match was decided by a dreadful error from Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes who scuffed the ball into the path of David Villa shortly before halftime, allowing the Valencia striker to lob the ball into an empty net.

Barcelona, missing influential trio Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and Deco but welcoming back leading striker Samuel Eto’ from the African Nations Cup, could not prise open Valencia’s rugged defence.

Frank Rijkaard’s side lead the standings on 52 points ahead of Valencia with 46 and arch-rivals Real Madrid on 45 after their 2-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Although they enjoyed far less possession, Valencia never let Barcelona settle with their electrifying counter-attacks.

Midfielder Miguel Angel Angulo had a fierce shot beaten away by Valdes after he broke down the right and Mario Regueiro drove his follow-up into a defender after a quarter of an hour.

Regueiro looked certain to score five minutes later when he was put clear after the referee waved play on in midfield, but his shot drifted wide of the post.

The Barcelona keeper came to the rescue once again when he stood up well to block a close-range shot from Pablo Aimar after the Argentine had collected a long pass with his toe and pirouetted inside Edmilson. But Valdes turned from hero to villain when he gifted Valencia the lead with his howler just before halftime.

Receiving a seemingly harmless back pass from Giovanni van Bronckhorst, he scuffed the ball into the path of Villa who chipped a first-time shot into the back of the net to take his tally for the season to 15.

Barcelona responded well after the break and laid siege to the Valencia area for most of the second period.

Keeper Santiago Canizares made one sharp save from Henrik Larsson as Valencia’s determined rearguard kept the Catalans at bay and allowed them to extend their unbeaten run to 12 games.

Meanwhile, Juventus’ grip on Serie A tightened to a stranglehold on Sunday when a late goal by Alessandro Del Piero gave them a 2-1 win at nearest challengers Inter Milan, adds a report from Milan.

The striker’s 85th-minute free-kick gave Juventus 66 points from 25 matches, 12 ahead of AC Milan, who moved up to second with a 4-1 win at Reggina, courtsey a Fillipo Inzaghi hattrick. Inter slipped to third, also on 54 points.