League leaders Real Madrid were left beaten and bewildered by a sparkling Real Sociedad today as their Basque hosts romped to a 4-2 victory.
Sociedad began brilliantly, racing into a 3-0 lead after just 32 minutes with two classy strikes from centre forward Darko Kovacevic and a well-taken goal from Turkish international Nihat Kahveci.
Ronaldo pulled one back for Real a minute later, but the Basques restored their three-goal cushion straight from the kickoff when midfielder Xabi Alonso scored with a brilliant curler.
Substitute striker Javier Portillo narrowed the gap again with a neatly-taken goal six minutes from time, but the late strike could take nothing away from a scintillating performance from Raynald Denoueix's side.
The result breathes new life into the title race and means that Real's lead at the top has been narrowed to just three points after the weekend's matches.
Deportivo Coruna are in second spot thanks to their 4-2 win over struggling Barcelona at the Nou Camp yesterday, level on points with Sociedad.
Barcelona drop to 12th place as a result of the weekend's action and are now just six points above the drop zone, with a crunch match against Real Madrid to come at the Bernabeu next week.
Celta Vigo move up to fourth after their 1-0 win over Real Betis, but could be replaced by Valencia if the Mediterranean side win their match against Osasuna tonight.
Goals were aplenty in today's earlier matches with Atletico Madrid and Real Mallorca both fighting their way from behind to claim 3-3 home draws.
Trailing 3-1 with just four minutes to go, defender Mirsad Hibic and midfielder Carlos Aguilera struck late goals to earn Atletico a valuable home point against a rejuvenated Espanyol.
Mallorca also came back from 3-1 down against 10-man Racing Santander thanks to two second half strikes from Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o.