Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as Real Madrid’s hopes of catching La Liga leaders Barcelona were all but ended after a 1-1 draw at Malaga on Sunday.
Madrid remain nine points behind Barca with 13 games to go after Raul Albentosa canceled 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.
Photo: EPA
However, Gary Neville’s upturn in fortunes as Valencia boss continued with a third win in a week, 2-1 at Granada.
Zinedine Zidane’s men were left to rue Ronaldo’s miss from the penalty 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.
“It is obviously going to be difficult because we have dropped two points, but we won’t give up,” Zidane said. “There are 39 points still to play for. You think the league is lost, but the players and myself don’t believe that.”
Real Madrid were without the injured Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, while James Rodriguez was left on the bench by Zidane.
The visitors were lucky to go in front when Ronaldo headed home a Toni Kroos 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 normally being 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 when Keylor Navas parried Duje Cop’s shot into the air and Sergio Ramos got back to clear the looping ball off the line.
Navas then made an incredible stop just after the restart when Nacho turned Juanpi’s cross toward his own goal.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper was finally beaten when Malaga’s two centerbacks combined for the equalizer as Weligton’s low cross was coolly slotted home at the back post by Albentosa.
Chances were far harder to come by at the Vicente Calderon as the two best defenses in the league stood firm.
Atletico’s top scorer Antoine Griezmann headed Juanfran’s cross just wide, before Angel Correa’s audacious chipped effort forced Villarreal goalkeeper Alphonse Areola into his only serious save after halftime.
Villarreal could have snatched all three points on the break when Cedric Bakambu blazed over with just Jan Oblak to beat.
A point consolidates Villarreal’s position in fourth, five points adrift of Real Madrid.
“Villarreal defended their area and counterattacked very well,” Atletico boss Diego Simeone said. “We maintain our lead over them, which for us is very positive.”
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.
With confidence high from their 6-0 thrashing of Rapid Vienna in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday last week, Valencia started the stronger and only great saves from Andres Fernandez prevented Paco Alcacer and Andres Gomez from giving them a halftime lead.
Dani Parejo eventually opened the scoring 10 minutes after the break when he swept home Alcacer’s knockdown.
However, Granada should have leveled in the final half hour as David Barral hit the bar and Youssef El-Arabi fired off target from close range.
Santi Mina sealed the points for Valencia on the counterattack, before Edgar Mendes pulled a goal back in stoppage-time.
“I think at the moment we need to win all our games to keep the momentum going,” Neville said. “The dressing room changed significantly in the last week in terms of mood, as when you win there is a stronger belief.”
Sevilla remain eight points off Villarreal in the battle for the final UEFA Champions League place after they blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Rayo Vallecano de Madrid.
Real Sociedad’s surge up the table continued as a brilliant Jonathas strike handed them a 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in the Basque derby.
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