Malaga came from behind to win 2-1 at Espanyol yesterday to rise to fourth place in the Spanish league, keeping the club in the hunt for European football next season.
Athletic Bilbao lost ground with the top teams after drawing 1-1 at home with Sporting Gijon, its fourth straight winless game since humbling Manchester United.
Malaga's Ruud van Nistelrooy and Martin Demichelis scored within three second-half minutes as the Qatari-owned club hit back from Philippe Coutinho's 24th-minute goal to secure a fifth victory in six games.
Malaga is level with third-place Valencia on points, moving ahead of Levante after it lost 2-0 to Osasuna. Raul Garcia and Juan Francsico Martinez scored either side of the break to lift Osasuna to sixth, the last Europa League place, and three points in front of Espanyol.
Athletic dominated Sporting Gijon and Oscar de Marcos looked to have put the Basques on course to victory at San Mames stadium with a 77th-minute goal. But Alberto Lora scored in the 90th minute for Sporting to salvage a 1-1 draw.
Bilbao knocked out United in the Europa League but its form has since been lacking due to fatigue and injuries. The team again failed to put away a game it dominated. In the first half, Iker Muniain had a penalty saved by Juan Pablo Colinas and Fernando Llorente missed a clear chance.
Sporting coach Javier Clemente used to coach Bilbao and led the team to its last trophy, the 1984 league title.
Zaragoza converted a last-minute penalty to beat Atletico Madrid 1-0. The team is on the same number of points as Sporting and Racing Santander in last place after Santander and Real Betis took a point each in their late encounter yesterday.
Spanish leader Real Madrid bounced back from consecutive draws to beat Real Sociedad 5-1 on Saturday to stay six points ahead of Barcelona, which beat Mallorca 2-0.
Coutinho continued his excellent loan spell at Espanyol with a masterfully taken free kick, the Brazilian forward rolling his shot under the wall as the defenders jumped off the ground for his fifth goal since arriving from Inter Milan in January.
Enzo Maresca struck the post on separate occasions before Van Nistelrooy slotted home a loose ball to equalise in the 76th.
Dimechelis was perfectly placed moments later to fire the rebound from Jose Rondon's saved header into the roof of goal.
At Valencia, Garcia volleyed home Osasuna's opener in the 16th minute, before Martinez jumped on a Levante defensive lapse in the 79th to score from inside the area.
Also on Saturday, Getafe beat Valencia 3-1. Today, Granada plays Sevilla in an Andalucian derby.