Valencia's narrow win maintained its hopes of receiving the unofficial title of "winter champion," afforded the team that lies first going into the two-week Christmas break.
After a lackluster first half, Mista broke the deadlock in the 61st minute when he powered home a header from a corner by Spanish international midfielder Vicente Rodriguez.
The Valencia striker rises to second place in the scoring charts, level with Malaga's Salva Ballesta and Atletico's Fernando Torres, and four goals behind Madrid's Brazilian ace Ronaldo.
Sevilla stays 13th with 21 points.
italian league
Captain-playmaker Francesco Totti converted a penalty kick and scored another goal with a delightful lob as AS Roma rolled past lowly Empoli 2-0 on Saturday to consolidate its lead in the Italian league ahead of the Christmas break.
Roma's 11th win of the season stretched its unbeaten streak of 14 matches and lifted the club to 36 points, six clear of AC Milan and seven more than defending champion Juventus, which play their 14th round matches on Sunday.
While taking on Udinese at San Siro on Sunday, European champion AC Milan must also make up a match with Siena it could not play last Sunday when it was in Japan for the Intercontinental Cup final with Boca Juniors.
dutch league
Ten-man Vitesse Arnhem defended staunchly Saturday to hold PSV to a goalless draw and seriously dent the Eindhoven side's title aspirations.
On the final weekend before Dutch soccer's five-week winter break, PSV is level with Ajax on 37 points, but the Amsterdammers have played two games fewer and travel to FC Twente Enschede today.
The hard-earned point failed to lift troubled Vitesse out of the relegation zone. It remains tied for 16th place.
Scottish premier league
Glasgow Rangers came from behind and ended its slump by edging Hearts 2-1 on Saturday to trim Celtic's standings lead to five points.
After a 3-1 loss at home to Greek club Panathinaikos ended Rangers' chances of European success and Dunfermline inflicted a rare victory in the league, Rangers appeared in trouble again when Andy Kirk fired Hearts ahead after 11 minutes at Ibrox.
But Georgian forward Shota Arveladze leveled in the 22nd minute and Chris Burke's first league goal in the 52nd minute proved to be the winner.
Rangers now has 41 points from 17 games but Celtic can regain its eight-point advantage by winning at Motherwell on Sunday. Hearts remains third, 17 points off the lead.
In Saturday's other games, Aberdeen and Dundee tied 2-2 and Livingston won 3-0 at Kilmarnock. The Dundee United-Partick Thistle game was postponed because of a waterlogged field at Tannadice.
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