- Victory over local rivals Levante puts Valencia third in Spanish league
- Sevilla and Malaga stay fifth and sixth after being held to 0-0 draws
- Bayern Munich's German league lead reduced to two points as main rivals win
- Palermo up to fifth in Italy after beating Bologna, while Roma also triumph
(CNN) -- Valencia moved above local rivals Levante to claim third place in Spain's La Liga after a 2-0 away victory in Saturday's derby clash.
Levante had surprisingly led the table after a run of seven victories, but fell to a second successive defeat.
Jordi Alba found space behind the home defense to collect Tino Costa's pass and steer home the 32nd-minute opener, which was credited as an own-goal by Javi Venta.
Argentine midfielder Costa then bamboozled Levante's Uruguayan goalkeeper Gustavo Munua with a swerving free-kick five minutes after the break.
Valencia's seventh win in 11 matches put Unai Emery's team level on 24 points with second-placed champions Barcelona, who play on Sunday along with leaders Real Madrid.
Sevilla remained fifth after a 0-0 draw away to Mallorca, staying a point above sixth-placed Malaga -- who drew 0-0 with Real Betis in an Andalusian derby.
Early-season pacesetters Betis, four points adrift of Malaga in 11th, ended a run of six defeats.
Bayern Munich's German league lead was reduced to two points as the club's three main title challengers all won on Saturday.
Defending champions Borussia Dortmund crushed Wolfsburg 5-1 as teenage midfielder Mario Gotze scored twice, but the win was marred by a broken cheekbone for defender Neven Subotic -- who will be out for six weeks.
Werder Bremen joined second-placed Dortmund on 23 points after a 3-2 win at home to 10-man Cologne.
Veteran Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro scored a second-half hat-trick, with two of those goals coming after Cologne defender Henrique Sereno was sent off for a foul on Markus Rosenberg with his side 2-1 ahead in the 52nd minute.
Sereno conceded a penalty which Pizarro converted, and the Peruvian -- who passed 150 Bundesliga goals last weekend -- was set up by Rosenberg for a late winner.
Borussia Monchengladbach trail Dortmund and Bremen on goal difference after winning 2-1 at Hertha Berlin, with Marco Reus netting both goals.
Seventh-placed Bayer Leverkusen led 2-0 inside 20 minutes against Hamburg, but the visitors equalized through Marcell Jansen and Heiko Westermann to remain third from bottom.
Freiburg joined Hamburg on 10 points with a 2-1 win at fellow strugglers Nuremberg thanks to a last-gasp penalty from Senegal striker Papiss Cisse.
The result dropped Augsberg into bottom place ahead of Sunday's home clash with Bayern.
Mid-table Hoffenheim drew 1-1 with Kaiserslautern, who went 12th above Wolfsburg on goal difference.
In Italy, Palermo moved up to fifth place with a 3-1 win at home to Bologna.
Israel midfielder Eran Zehavi gave the Sicilians a 13th-minute lead, while Argentine defender Matias Silvestre and Slovenia midfielder Josip Ilicic made in 3-0 in the second half before Gaston Ramirez's late consolation.
Roma claimed seventh place in the Serie A table with a 2-0 win at promoted Novara.
Miralem Pjanic set up both goals for forwards Bojan Krkic and Pablo Osvaldo in the final 18 minutes.
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