Injury-hit Real Madrid gave title rivals Deportivo Coruna and Real Sociedad the chance of overtaking them at the top of the table after they were held to a 0-0 draw at lowly Recreativo Huelva on Saturday.
The result means Real remain top on 65 points but are now just two clear of Deportivo and Sociedad, who have yet to play this weekend.
Depor travel to Malaga in Saturday's late match, while Sociedad face a difficult trip to Real Mallorca on Sunday.
Real, who left the injured
Ronaldo, Raul,
Luis Figo and Zinedine
Zidane back in Madrid and gave a first league start of the season to reserve striker
Tote, lacked their usual fluency throughout the game at the Nuevo Colombino.
Recreativo were the first to settle and centre forward Raul
Molina proved an instant menace to the Real defence, shooting wide after just 25 seconds and getting close to touching in an Emilio Viqueira free kick five minutes later.
The lively striker even managed to get the ball in the net but his goal was ruled out for offside.
Real managed to weather the early Recre storm and had a brief spell in control as
Roberto Carlos made several raiding runs on the left and rehabilitated striker
Fernando Morientes threatened on the edge of the area.
Strike partner
Tote had a spectacular goal-bound shot blocked by defender
Mariano Pernia on 15 minutes and
Morientes skied over the bar soon after, but Recre fought back well and came within a whisker of snatching the lead just before halftime.
Molina raced on to a long pass with just
Iker Casillas to beat, but the Real goalkeeper managed to block the striker's low shot with his feet.
Casillas came to the rescue once more after the restart, diving to his left to turn a sharp shot from Mario Bermejo past the post for a corner and blocking a
Molina shot soon after.
Without
Zidane and
Figo in midfield, Real created few clear attacking opportunities and Recre had little problem keeping Vicente del
Bosque's side at bay, although the draw was not enough to keep the Andalucians out of the drop zone.
Earlier on Saturday, fellow strugglers Alaves claimed their first win in 11 outings when they edged to a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid at the Calderon thanks to a breakaway goal from substitute Adrian Ilie 10 minutes into the second half.
The victory enabled the Basque side to haul themselves out of the relegation zone, although with Osasuna still to play later on Saturday they could still drop back down the table.
For Atletico, whose coach Luis Aragones announced this week that he would quit at the end of the season, a third straight defeat effectively put an end to their hopes of a place in Europe.