Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as Real Madrid’s hopes of catching la liga leaders Barcelona were all but ended with a 1-1 draw at Malaga on Sunday.
Madrid remain nine points behind Barca with 13 games to go after Raul Albentosa cancelled out Ronaldo’s opener.
Atletico Madrid also failed to gain significant ground on Barca as they were held 0-0 at home by Villarreal to move eight points behind in second.
Zinedine Zidane’s men were left to rue Ronaldo’s miss from the spot to make it 2-0 before the break when Carlos Kameni dived to his left to parry the three-time World Player of the Year’s effort.
The visitors were lucky to go in front as Ronaldo headed home Toni Kroos’s free-kick despite clearly standing in an offside position.
There was no doubt about the penalty award two minutes later, though, when Ronaldo was brought down by Weligton.
Yet, despite being normally lethal from the spot, the Portuguese was denied by a fine low save by Kameni.
Malaga missed a great chance to level before the break as Jesus Navas parried Duje Cop’s shot into the air and Sergio Ramos got back to clear the looping ball off the line.
Atletico’s top scorer Antoine Griezmann headed Juanfran’s inch-perfect cross just wide before Angel Correa’s audacious chipped effort forced Villarreal goalkeeper Alphonse Areola into his only serious save after half-time.
Elsewhere, Neville’s Valencia again rode their luck, but recorded back-to-back league wins for just the second time this season as Granada passed up a wave of second-half opportunities.
Sevilla remain eight points off Villarreal in the battle for the final Champions league place as they blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Rayo Vallecano.