Sevilla spurned the chance to put more pressure on Valencia in the race for the Champions League spots after being held at home by fellow high-flyers Deportivo La Coruna.
With third-placed Valencia travelling to Barcelona on Sunday, Sevilla could have moved to within a point of Los Che with a victory and it was looking good when it took a first-half lead through Federico Fazio.
However, sixth-placed Depor, who is only two points behind the Andalusians, levelled up almost immediately through Adrian Lopez and despite the hosts hitting the woodwork twice and pushing hard for the win in the second half, the spoils were shared.
Athletic Bilbao saw its European aspirations dented slightly as it came up against an inspired goalkeeper at Sporting Gijon.
An Athletic win in Gijon would have seen the Basques go level on points with fifth-placed Mallorca, who lost 3-0 at Getafe earlier.
But Sporting keeper Juan Pablo Colinas was at the top of his game, denying the visitors with a string of superb saves, the best of which was from a penalty to deny Igor Gabilondo after 58 minutes.
Champions League-chasing Real Mallorca's poor away form returned to haunt it as it slumped to a heavy 3-0 defeat at Getafe, whose own European hopes received a big boost.
Mallorca started the weekend level with fourth-placed Sevilla on 43 points, but it missed the chance to further strengthen its push after going down to goals from Daniel Parejo, Miku and Manu Del Moral.
Parejo headed home the opener in the 32nd minute, substitute Miku made it 2-0 10 minutes from time before his fellow replacement Manu wrapped up the scoring soon after from the penalty spot.
Sevilla 1 (Fazio 21)
Deportivo 1 (Adrian 24)
Sporting Gijon 0
Athletic Bilbao 0
Getafe 3 (Parejo 32, Miku 80, Manu 85p)
Mallorca 0