Real Madrid moved back to within one point of La Liga leaders FC Barcelona with a 2-0 win at home to third-placed Valencia in the 33rd round of the La Liga on Sunday. [Xinhua Photo]

Real Madrid moved back to within one point of La Liga leaders FC Barcelona with a 2-0 win at home to third-placed Valencia in the 33rd round of the La Liga on Sunday.

The result takes Madrid to back to within just one point of Barcelona, who could only draw 0-0 away to Espanyol 24 hours earlier.

Valencia were considered to be one of the most difficult rivals Real Madrid would have to face in its remaining six matches.

However, despite being third in the league, the visitors kicked off 21 points behind Real Madrid and ended it 24 points behind.

Gonzalo Higuain opened the scoring with his 25th goal of the season in an excellent first half from the home side as Valencia struggled to get into the game.

The visitors got more into things after the break and David Silva was unlucky to see a powerful shot bounce back from the woodwork. Cristiano Ronaldo then secured the points midway through the second half.

The result means the race for the title will go right to the wire, but given that Valencia are the third best team in Spain, Real Madrid's easy win only raises more questions about the competitiveness of the Spanish League.

Sunday's other games saw two goalless draws as Malaga and Valladolid produced a horror-show in the La Rosaleda Stadium. The result means that Valladolid are unbeaten under new coach Javier Clemente, although still deep in the relegation zone.