BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Atletico Madrid squandered a chance to reduce the gap with Spanish leader Barcelona to single digits after being held to a 0-0 draw at Malaga on Sunday, while Real Sociedad and Real Betis dueled to a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Atletico started well and bossed the first half hour of play at La Rosaleda Stadium, when pressure applied by strike pair Radamel Falcao and Diego Costa led to Arda Turan's and Cristian Rodriguez's long-range attempts.
But after a frenetic first half, the defenses reduced the match to an ugly stalemate for most of the final 45 minutes.
Malaga was never able to find its flow in attack and was limited to defenders Martin Demichelis and Weligton going close with headers from set-pieces.
By not winning, Atletico likely let escape its last chance to add some drama to the title race, with Barcelona reeling after two losses to Real Madrid this week and focusing on its last-16 Champions League series with AC Milan in which it needs to come back from a 2-0 deficit.
Atletico trails Barcelona, which lost 2-1 at Madrid on Saturday, by 11 points in second place with 12 rounds to go.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone, however, was content to take away a point four days after his team sealed its place in the Copa del Rey final against Madrid by eliminating Sevilla.
"My team dominated the game," Simeone said. "We just lacked making that final pass to convert our 90 minutes of good play into a goal."
Malaga stayed in fourth place, one point ahead of Valencia and clinging to Spain's final Champions League spot for next season. It also faces a key Champions League game against FC Porto in two weeks in which it must overturn a 1-0 loss in the first leg.
Anoeta stadium was treated to one of the most entertaining games so far this season, as Sociedad and Betis put on a tireless display of attacking football that featured a double by Betis' Dorlan Pabon and five goals in a 17-minute span before ending in a deserved point for each.
Only seconds after Sociedad's Imanol Agirretxe had hit the post, Jorge Molina capped a counterattack on the other end to give Betis the lead on the half-hour mark.
Pabon doubled the visitors' advantage in the 49th by taking advantage of a defensive mistake to convert Benat Etxebarria's lobbed pass.
Yet instead of folding, Sociedad responded in fine fashion and the game quickly became a shootout.
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