Barcelona came from behind to beat Valencia 2-1 on Saturday, a result which leaves the two teams joint top of La Liga with 16 points from seven games.

Barca's win gives both Real Madrid and Villarreal the chance to snatch top spot. Real, currently on 14 points, are at midtable Malaga later Saturday. Villarreal, now with 15 points, are at Hercules on Monday.

Valencia dominated the first half and went ahead through Pablo. Barca took control after the interval and turned the tables with goals from World Cup heroes Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol.

"We really needed to win today," said a relieved Puyol.

"They did very well in the first half, but we were quite superior in the second half and should really have scored more goals."

Valencia made an aggressive start and created several good chances before Pablo's opening goal, which came in the 38th minute on a good centre from left-back Jeremy Mathieu.

Pablo then came close to making it 2-0 but was foiled by Barca keeper Victor Valdes.

The hosts came out for the second half firing on all cylinders, and Iniesta quickly made it 1-1 with a precise low drive, after a clever one-two with Xavi.

The winning goal came in the 63rd minute, when an inch-perfect centre from Xavi was bravely headed home by fellow veteran Puyol. David Villa - playing against his former club - and Lionel Messi then missed good chances to polish off Valencia.

The visitors hardly touched the ball in the second half and hardly looked like title contenders.

Earlier Saturday, at Barcelona's stormy annual general assembly of club members, new President Sandro Rosell announced a record loss of 79.6 million euros (111.78 million dollars) last season and a total debt of 430 million euros.

His proposal to bring a civil lawsuit against former president Joan Laporta for financial misdemeanour was narrowly approved, to the annoyance of Laporta's many supporters.

Laporta himself was not present at the assembly, claiming that he would not be allowed to defend himself properly.

Saturday's first match was a comfortable 2-0 home win for Atletico Madrid over local rivals Getafe.

Atletico had the whip hand from the start but needed a stroke of fortune to break the deadlock seven minutes before half-time.

A classy free-kick from veteran winger Simao went through the Getafe wall, hit the post - and went in off luckless goalkeeper Jordi Codina.

Simao claimed the goal but it will probably be listed as an own goal by Codina.

The second goal came 17 minutes from time, when Getafe were pressing for an equalizer. A rapid break saw Jose Antonio Reyes set up Juan Valera, and the right-back centred for Brazilian striker Diego Costa to make it 2-0.

Costa, just 21, standing in for the injured Sergio Aguero, has been one of the revelations of the season so far.

Atletico now have 13 points from seven games and are in fifth place.

The Atletico-Getafe clash was preceded by a minute's silence for former Atletico and Spain defender Juan Carlos Arteche, who died on Wednesday at age 53 after a long illness.

Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores said: "We wanted to win in order to dedicate the victory to the daughters of Arteche, and we did so with a spirit similar to that of Arteche himself."