Marco Ruben grabbed a last-minute winner to earn Levante a 2-1 win at Espanyol on Saturday to boost their hopes of a place in the Champions League.
The win puts the team from Valencia back into fourth position on 35 points.
Former Espanyol player Valdo was the quickest to react to a loose ball to finish well on 24 minutes and give Levante the lead.
In the second-half, Espanyol pressed for the leveller with Slovakian winger Vladimir Weiss, on loan from Manchester City, looking particularly dangerous.
However it was Arouna Kone who nearly doubled the lead for Levante on 68 minutes only to be denied by a fine save by Francisco Casilla.
Six minutes later substitute Kalu Uche leapt highest to head in a Joan Verdu floated free-kick, after Weiss had been fouled on the right wing, to level the game.
Ruben struck a last minute free-kick that took a slight deflection to take the three points for Levante.
It was the first win in nine league games for a Levante side who started the campaign brightly and briefly challenged Real Madrid and Barcelona at the top of the table.
Real Madrid go into Sunday’s important local derby at Rayo Vallecano with a number of injury problems that will test the depth of their squad in the important weeks that follow.
Jose Mourinho has named two reserve team players, Joselu and Jesus Fernandez, in his squad for the Rayo clash, with Karim Benzema, Lassana Diarra, Angel di Maria, Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop all ruled out.
With a 10-point lead to defend over nearest rivals Barcelona at the top of La Liga, Madrid must sense the objective of a Spanish title is close.
However, French international forward Benzema pulled up in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw away to CSKA Moscow in the Champions League with a muscular problem and is expected to be out for what Mourinho has described as “some weeks”.
Di Maria may be out for another four weeks after a setback in his recuperation from a muscular injury that has already made him miss the past month.
Meanwhile, Malaga came from behind to beat bottom club Real Zaragoza 5-1, for whom Carlos Aranda grabbed an early lead, to move into fifth place, one point behind Levante.
The defeat leaves Zaragoza stranded at the bottom, 11 points from safety.
Also on Saturday the points were shared in 1-1 draws between Racing Santander and Sporting Gijon and Real Betis and Getafe.
