Leader Sevilla drew Villarreal 0-0 and extended its winless run to three Spanish league games on Saturday.
Sevilla, for whom the draw brought its first point of the year, was again below-par at Villarreal's El Madrigal stadium.
In Saturday's other game, Osasuna had four players ejected in the final stages of a 1-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid.
Osasuna lost Carlos Cuellar, Roberto Soldado, goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez and Raul Garcia in separate incidents in the last 18 minutes at Vicente Calderon stadium in a game decided by Ze Castro's 83rd-minute goal.
Atletico's victory at the halfway stage of the season lifted it into third place.
Sevilla heads the standings with 38 points from 19 games. Barcelona has 35 from 17, Atletico 35 from 19, and Madrid 35 from 18.
Villarreal, which again omitted Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme amid reports of differences with coach Manuel Pellegrini, had the best chance of the first half in the eighth minute but striker Diego Forlan got into a tangle.
Sevilla suffered a blow in the 25th minute when left winger Adriano, a key player in the team's success this season, left the field after a foul by right back Josemi Gonzalez.
Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute, the league's top scorer with 15 goals, then failed to add to his tally in the 58th when he sent a simple chance wide.
With five minutes remaining, Forlan almost made amends for his earlier miss with a bending free kick which goalkeeper Andres Palop just managed to claw out.
Atletico's Portuguese defender Ze Castro scored his second league goal for the club from a bouncing shot from the edge of the area which deceived Ricardo.
Captain Cuellar became the first Osasuna player to be dismissed five minutes earlier for a foul which led to a penalty which Atletico striker Fernando Torres wasted by firing wide.
Substitute Soldado went in the 87th for elbowing Ze Castro in the face, while Ricardo received his second yellow card for kicking the ball away in the 90th.
Midfielder Garcia was sent off for a kick on Atletico defender Yiourkas Seitaridis in injury time.
Atletico coach Javier Aguirre also received a red card in the 42nd minute, apparently for venting his protests at referee Vicente Lizondo Cortes. Aguirre became Osasuna's most successful coach during a four-year spell which ended at the end of last season when he joined Atletico.
The encounter was the third between the teams in 11 days, Osasuna having eliminated Atletico in the fifth-round of the Copa del Rey.
Yesterday's other games were: Real Sociedad v Valencia; Zaragoza v Recreativo Huelva; Levante v Athletic Bilbao; Getafe v Celta Vigo; Real Betis v Santander; and Deportivo La Coruna v Espanyol.
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