Sevilla went atop the Spanish Liga late Saturday with an eventful 4-3 home win over newly promoted Sporting Gijon.

Sevilla now have four points from two games, one point more than Atletico Madrid, who crashed 2-1 in Valladolid earlier Saturday.

Also Saturday, Barcelona continued their poor start, being held to a 1-1 draw at home by defensive Racing Santander.

The Sevilla-Gijon clash was a veritable fiesta of excellent attacking and poor defending.

Astonishingly, the half-time score was 3-3, with Gijon striker Mate Bilic having put away a hat-trick - and with Ernesto Chevanton, Enzo Maresca and Frederic Kanoute having hit back for Sevilla.

Kanoute hit the winner for Sevilla in the 59th minute, putting away the rebound after Gijon keeper Sergio Sanchez had spilled a shot from Koffi Romaric.

"The important thing is the three points," said Kanoute, "not my two goals or the fact that we are top, for now."

Atletico Madrid would have stayed top had they won in Valladolid, but they turned up with a team weakened by international duty injuries - and were chasing their tails from the start.

Veteran Vivar Dorado gave Valladolid the lead after just four minutes. Local defender Pedro Lopez was sent off 20 minutes later, but the hosts went up 2-0 in the 28th minute from a Javier Baraja penalty kick, after a foul on the lively Dorado.

Argentine star Sergio Aguero came off the bench and pulled a goal back for Atletico in the 55th minute, but ten-man Valladolid held out for an important win.

Saturday's other surprise was the Barca-Santander draw.

Barca deserved to win but lacked finesse in attack, as in their debut against Numancia.

Lionel Messi gave Barca the lead in the 71st minute from the penalty spot, only for Jonathan Pereira to make it 1-1 six minutes later with Santander's first shot.

Barca have made their worst start since 1973 with just one point after two games, and the pressure is already building up on new coach Josep Guardiola.

"It was incredible that we didn't win tonight," said striker Samuel Eto'o, who turned in another flat display.

The game was preceded by a minute's silence for 1950s Barca captain Joan Segarra, who died last week.

Guardiola raised eyebrows by fielding youngsters Pedro Dominguez and Sergi Busquets instead of Messi and Thierry Henry.

Barca should have taken the lead at the start of the second half, when Daniel Alves hit the crossbar and Andres Iniesta had a clear penalty turned down. They were finally given a penalty in the 70th minute for handball by Christian Fernandez.

Messi calmly converted, but the goal obliged Santander to come out of their defensive shell. In the 77th minute, Pereira silenced the Camp Nou by making it 1-1, flicking in a low free-kick from Ezequiel Garay.

Pereira then twice came close to giving the visitors a shock win, as Barca fell apart.