Madrid, Jan 4 (DPA) Real Madrid missed a good chance to go top of the Spanish Liga Sunday, being held to a 0-0 draw away to dogged Osasuna.
A win in rainy Pamplona Sunday would have put Real top on goal difference, level on points with world champions Barcelona, who were held 1-1 at home on Saturday by Villarreal.
But Osasuna were solid in defence and intense in midfield, and the whites wasted the few chances that they managed to create.
Gonzalo Higuain squandered two good openings for Real in the second half, then Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo went close for the visitors.
Veteran sub Raul had what looked like a fair goal wrongly disallowed for offside.
“It was a difficult game tonight,” said Real anchorman Xabi Alonso.
“They harried and chased for every ball,” he added, “and we were never really comfortable.”
Real now have 38 points from 16 games, two fewer than Barca. In third place, on 38, are Valencia, who beat Espanyol 1-0 at home on Saturday thanks to an injury-time winner from Nikola Zigic.
Earlier Saturday, Mallorca had moved up to joint fourth with a 2-0 home win over Athletic Bilbao.
Mallorca, the surprise package of the season, are now joint fourth with Sevilla, who crashed 2-1 away to Atletico Madrid Saturday.
Mallorca and Sevilla both have 30 points, two more than fifth-placed Deportivo Coruna.
“This was another good result for us,” said Mallorca veteran Jose Luis Marti, “but we must bear in mind that the season is not yet even halfway over.”
Midfielder Julio Alvarez opened the scoring for Mallorca five minutes into the second half, with a shot that took a wicked deflection off Bilbao defender Andoni Iraola.
Aritz Aduriz, who used to lead the Bilbao attack, made it 2-0 for Mallorca in the 68th minute with a cool finish.
Earlier Sunday, Juan Manuel Lillo had made a promising start as the new coach of Almeria, with a late 1-0 defeat of fellow strugglers Xerez.
The only goal was scored just one minute from time by supersub Jose Ortiz, who had just been brought on by Lillo.
Lillo, who took over from Mexican Hugo Sanchez last week, said, “It is wonderful to start with a win… It was a tight game, but I think that we just about deserved the three points.”
The late win takes Almeria up to sixth from bottom while keeping Xerez well adrift at the bottom.
Jose Gay, making his debut on the bench of Zaragoza, did not do badly either, with a 0-0 draw at home to fifth-placed Deportivo Coruna.
In Sunday’s other early Spanish games, Getafe beat Valladolid 1-0 with a goal from veteran Francisco Casquero, while Racing Santander beat Tenerife 2-0, and Sporting Gijon twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at home to Malaga.
These results leave Xerez bottom with just seven points, followed by Zaragoza and Malaga on 13. Then come Tenerife on 15 and six clubs tied on 16: Espanyol, Almeria, Santander and Valladolid.
rounak