LONDON, Jan 27: It was a day of wasted opportunities for Juventus, Olympique Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen.
Juventus spurned the chance to move eight points clear of Napoli and Lazio at the top of Serie A after a second-half equaliser by Marco Borriello earned struggling Genoa a 1-1 draw in Turin on Saturday.
Marseille missed the chance to climb back into second spot in Ligue 1 after goalkeeper Steve Mandanda's blunder gifted Stade Rennes a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw in Brittany.
Leverkusen reclaimed second place in the Bundesliga from defending champions Borussia Dortmund but wasted a chance to close the gap on leaders Bayern Munich after being held to a goalless draw at Freiburg.
But Valencia won in dramatic fashion, scoring an injury time winner in a come-from-behind 3-2 win at struggling Deportivo La Coruna that lifted them into Europa League positions in La Liga.
Former Juve forward Borriello struck in the 68th minute, heading home Juraj Kucka's cross after the hosts had broken the deadlock 10 minutes after half-time when Fabio Quagliarella tapped in Stephan Lichtsteiner's cross in a pulsating encounter.
Juve created several chances in the final 20 minutes but came up short, and were left furious after being denied a solid penalty claim after the ball came off the arm of Swedish defender Andreas Granqvist to remain on 49 points at the top, six clear of Napoli and Lazio.
Juve coach Antonio Conte was still livid when he spoke to Sky Italia after the match: “Even a blind man would have seen it was a penalty! I'll accept it if they admit their error, but hearing a referee say 'I didn't feel ready' to give the penalty is not normal. This is not football.”
Earlier, Lazio fell to their first defeat in 17 matches in all competitions, suffering a shock 1-0 home defeat by Chievo Verona with Alberto Paloschi scoring his seventh goal of the season on 61 minutes.
Marseille looked set for a deserved win after Jordan Ayew gave them a 2-1 lead in the 82nd minute, but Rennes equalised when Mandanda mishandled a routine cross from Abdoulaye Sane two minutes from time and Romain Alessandrini nodded home.
Marseille led at the interval thanks to a strike from Jordan’s brother Andre but Rennes levelled after defender Kevin Theophile-Catherine powerfully headed home a right-wing corner on the hour mark.
The result left Elie Baup's side in third place with 42 points from 22 matches, three behind leaders Olympique Lyon and adrift of Paris Saint-Germain on goal difference while Rennes moved to fourth, six points adrift of Marseille.
“There’s a lot of disappointment because we were 2-1 up, but before the match maybe we would have signed up for a draw,” Baup said. “I'm disappointed for my players that we didn't win. You can have some regrets when you take the lead twice.”Champions Montpellier climbed to seventh on 32 points after first-half goals by Emmanuel Herrera and John Utaka sealed a straightforward 2-0 home win over Sochaux.
Germany international Andre Schuerrle came closest to scoring for Leverkusen in a hard-fought game against Frieburg, crashing his shot against the post in the 71st minute as they moved to 37 points, a point ahead of Dortmund and eight behind Bayern who have a game in hand.
“We wanted all three points, but we knew it would be difficult. The draw is fair,” admitted Schuerrle, with Germany coach Joachim Loew watching the match.
Fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who occupy the Champions League playoff place, beat Hoffenheim 2-1 while Schalke 04 drew 0-0 at lowly Augsburg and Mainz 05 moved up to fifth with a workmanlike 3-0 win at bottom side Greuther Fuerth.
Borussia Moenchengladbach stretched their unbeaten run to nine games across all competitions and kept their Champions League hopes alive when they beat Fortuna Duesseldorf 2-1 to claim seventh place.
Frankfurt, have 33 points from 19 games followed by Mainz (30), and Schalke and Gladbach on 29.
Defender Ricardo Costa headed in Valencia's injury-time winner to cap their 3-2 win at nine-man Deportivo at the Riazor Stadium which moved them to fifth on 33 points.
Valencia had the perfect start when Jonas nodded them in front with barely 30 seconds on the clock but Riki levelled with a header in the 32nd minute and then put the home side in front in first-half before Nelson Valdez hauled them level.
Valencia’s city neighbours Levante moved to sixth after a Antonio Rukavina's own goal in the 90th minute gave them a come-from –behind 2-1 2win against Valladolid.—Agencies