Ruud van Nistelrooy drew Real Madrid level with a goal after 62 minutes, before Brazilian Robinho put them in front with 12 minutes of the game remaining.

However, Robinho’s celebrations landed him in hot water with the referee and he was promptly shown the red card.

Minutes later Sevilla’s Aitor Ocio also saw red for an incident in the penalty area, before Van Nistelrooy seemingly made the points safe with his second goal after 85 minutes.

Ernesto Chevanton made it 3-2 with a free-kick late on, but Real Madrid held on to keep up the pressure on Barcelona, who beat struggling Real Sociedad 2-0 on Saturday night.

Goals from Andres Iniesta and Samuel Eto’o gave Barcelona a win, which left Real Sociedad six points adrift of safety.

In the other game on Saturday night, Valencia won 2-1 away at Deportivo to keep alive their faint title hopes.

Hugo Viana gave Valencia a 38th minute lead, before Sebastian Taborda equalised after 69 minutes.

However, David Silva’s goal four minutes later gave Valencia a win to keep them in touch with Primera Liga’s top three.

Real Zaragoza stayed in fifth after a 0-0 draw with Racing Santander, while Recreativo missed the chance to move into the UEFA Cup spots after they drew 0-0 with Athletic Bilbao, who moved three points above the relegation zone.

A 68th-minute goal from Guillermo Franco for Villarreal gave them a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo and meant that Celta stayed in the relegation zone, three points adrift of Athletic Bilbao.

Gimnastic stayed rock-bottom of the league and look destined for the Segunda Division next season after a 28th minute Cesar Navas own goal and Mustapha Riga’s 48th minute goal gave Levante a 2-0 win.

Atletico Madrid stayed in the UEFA Cup spots, despite a 2-1 defeat at Espanyol.

Goals from Moha after 10 minutes and Walter Pandiani in the 75th minute put Espanyol 2-0 up, before Martin Petrov grabbed a consolation for Atletico Madrid in injury time.

Getafe are now only two points behind Atletico in the chase for a UEFA Cup spot, after they ran out 2-0 winners away to Real Betis.

Daniel Guiza put Getafe ahead after 16 minutes and Francisco Casquero made the points safe with a 34th minute strike.

Elsewhere, Osasuna are still not mathematically safe from relegation after the were beaten 3-1 by Real Mallorca.

Fernando Varela put Real Mallorca 1-0 up after 37 minutes, only for Raul Garcia to equalise for Osasuna on the hour mark.

However, Gutierrez Jonas put Mallorca back in front six minutes later and Bosko Jankovic put the game beyond Osasuna nine minutes from time.