BARCELONA, Spain - Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal but missed a penalty as Real Madrid was held 1-1 at Malaga on Sunday to fall nine points behind Spanish league leader Barcelona.

Second-place Atletico Madrid could only manage a 0-0 draw against Villarreal and is eight points behind Barcelona, which is now in a strong position to retain its league title.

Ronaldo put the visitors in front with a header in the 33rd minute but missed a chance to increase the lead a couple of minutes later when his spot-kick was saved by Malaga goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. The hosts equalized through defender Raul Albentosa in the 66th.

Madrid needed a victory to keep pace with Barcelona, after the Catalan side won 2-1 at Las Palmas on Saturday.

Atletico Madrid also had to win, but Diego Simeone's team failed to break through Villarreal's defence at the Vicente Calderon Stadium. The draw extended Villarreal's 12-game unbeaten streak and kept the club in fourth place, five points behind Atletico Madrid.

"We have to keep working, game after game," Atletico midfielder Jorge "Koke" Resurreccion said. "We are still second, we will continue to fight until the end."

Atletico and Real Madrid have 13 games left to try to catch Barcelona. No team has come back from nine points down to win the title with this many matches left in the Spanish league.

"We are not done yet, we only lost two points," Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. "There are a lot of games left, the other teams can also lose points."

It will be difficult, though, as Barcelona hasn't lost in 32 games and has won eight in a row in the league. Real Madrid has been dominant at home since Zidane took over the squad, but it drew two of its three away league games. The only victory came with a late winner against Granada.

"We never give up," Real Madrid left back Marcelo said. "It's a big difference but we will fight until the end."

Some of Spain's top sports newspapers ran headlines saying Madrid's title run was over.

"Real Madrid says goodbye to league title," both Marca and AS said on their websites after the game.

Madrid struggled from the start at La Rosaleda Stadium in Malaga, allowing the hosts to create several scoring chances. Goalkeeper Keylor Navas did well in keeping Malaga from scoring more goals.

Replays showed Ronaldo was offside when he opened the scoring with a header after a cross by Toni Kroos. The ball appeared to bounce off Ronaldo's back or shoulder before going in. It was Ronaldo's 22nd league goal in 25 rounds. Luis Suarez, who scored on Saturday, leads the league with 25 goals.

Two minutes after the goal, Ronaldo was fouled inside the area. With a chance to give Madrid a 2-0 lead, Ronaldo failed to find the net, sending his low shot into Kameni's hands near the right post. It was Ronaldo's second missed penalty in the league this year. It would have been his 10th goal in the last seven games in all competitions.

Both teams had opportunities to score toward the end of the match, but it was Malaga that got on the board with a close-range shot by Albentosa after a cross by Brazilian defender Weligton.

The home draw left Malaga 11th in the 20-team standings with 31 points.

Also Sunday, Gary Neville's Valencia won its second in a row after enduring a 12-game winless streak in the league. The 2-1 win at Granada moved the team to 11th in the standings.

"You have to enjoy the good moments when they come," Neville said. "It's an important victory. The mood in the dressing room has changed."

In other results, fifth-place Sevilla drew 2-2 at Rayo Vallecano, while eighth-place Athletic Bilbao lost 1-0 at home to ninth-place Real Sociedad in the Basque derby.

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