It gets worse for Real Madrid's Ronaldo
Ronaldo missed a last-minute penalty as his Real Madrid were held 0-0 by Valencia last night.
The result does neither side any favours in their increasingly desperate efforts to catch runaway leaders Barcelona, who can pull 12 points clear at the top of the Primera Liga with victory on the road against Osasuna on Sunday.
Madrid entered the match hoping to register a victory that would go some way to banishing the memory of their painful midweek Champions League exit at the hands of Arsenal, but their expensively-assembled forward line never looked like creating enough chances to seriously trouble Santiago Canizares in the Valencia goal.
The penalty drama came in the last minute of normal time.
Ronaldo ran menacingly into the Valencia box, played a neat one-two with Antonio Cassano as he went.
The Brazilian found himself clear in front of goal with just Canizares left to beat, only for the two to collide as the striker tried to round the keeper.
The Madrid substitute needed little encouragement to go to ground, and quickly picked himself up to take the ensuing spot kick.
However, Canizares quickly made amends for his misdemeanour, getting down low to his left to stop Ronaldo's tame spot-kick.