Almería 1 - Real Madrid 1

Almería: Diego Alvés; Bruno, Carlos García, Pellerano, Mané; Julio Alvarez, Juanito (Soriano 72'); Juanma Ortíz (Crusat 46'), Corona (Kalu Uche 46'), Piatti; Negredo. 4-2-3-1.
Madrid: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Pepe (Metzelder 48'), Cannavaro, Heinze; Gago, Diarrà; Sneijder (Guti 77'), Higuaín (Van der Vaart 71'), Robben; Raúl. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Almería: Mané, Juanito, Piatti for Guilherme, Soriano, Crusat / Madrid: Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Diarrà for Michel Salgado, Marcelo, Van der Vaart.

Goals:
0-1. 38. Raúl. Dived forward to head Higuaín's centre across Diego Alves.
1-1. 81. Piatti. Got ahead of Ramos to volley Crusat's cross past Casillas.

Yellow cards: Uche 54', Juanito 60', Sneijder 61', Soriano 90', Negredo 91', Casillas 92'.

Real Madrid drop two points behind new leaders Barcelona after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Almería on Sunday evening. Bernd Schuster's side stay in third spot, level on points with Valencia and one behind Villarreal.

The match was virtually uneventful before Raúl flung himself forward to head the visitors in to the lead from Higuaín's cross shortly before half time. Diego Alves had comfortably dealt with shots from Higuaín and Robben up to then, and the locals had only approached Casillas's goal with a Julio Alvarez free kick which went wide of the mark.

Juanito and Kalu Uche did try their luck either side of half time, and Alves almost fumbled a long effort by Sneijder after the restart. Almería felt they should have had a couple of penalties, first when Metzelder handled in the area and then when Negredo was brought down. Meanwhile Diarrà got the ball in the net at the other end only to be ruled out for offside, and Heinze was also flagged after heading just wide of the mark.

As the second half progressed Arconada's side pushed forward, Casillas having to save from Crusat and Soriano. With ten minutes to go though a poor clearance by Sergio Ramos was played on to Crusat, who crossed in for Piatti to outstrip Heinze and volley a shot past the keeper. Julio alvarez and Piatti had chances after that, but the scoreline stayed as it was and both teams settled for a point in the end.