Sevilla won a thrilling and controversial encounter with Osasuna to move within a point of Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga.
Jorge Sampaoli's team fell behind twice on their visit to the League's bottom team, but recovered to eventually run out 4-3 victors in a pulsating encounter.
The result means the Andalusians are second in the table at the halfway point of the campaign, having accumulated 42 points from 19 matches – their best ever tally.
Belief is growing that, as Atletico Madrid did in 2014, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan outfit could defy all the odds to last the distance to claim a shock title win.
They did it the hard way in the Basque country, though, against an Osasuna team who belied their lowly status to produce a performance full of skill and determination. They will feel aggreived not to have come away with at least a point, having been on the receiving end of what they will feel was the game's defining decision.
The hosts started positively and took the lead after 15 minutes when Sergio Leon got on the end of Roberto Torres' cross to divert past Sevilla keeper Sergio Rico.
They could not quite maintain their surprise lead until the half time interval, though. After a volley came back off the post, the rebound fell to new signing Stevan Jovetic, who cut back for captain Vicente Iborra to score.
It remained 1-1 until the 63rd minute, when Iborra again took centre stage in a dramatic three-minute spell. First, he diverted a cross from the Osasuna right into his own net to give Los Rojillos the lead once more, before equalising again two minutes later by heading home a rebound after Wissam Ben Yedder's shot was saved.
With 10 minutes remaining Sevilla finally got their noses in front, but it was not without controversy. Bruno Vazquez headed in Pablo Sarabia's corner from close range, but appeared to push Torres, who was marking him, in the back at the decisive moment. The Osasuna players protested furiously, but it was to no avail.
It looked as if the Rojiblancos had finally wrapped up the points in stoppage time when Sarabia finished neatly on the break, but Kenan Kodro's close range header reduced Osasuna's deficit to one.
As it was, there was barely time to restart the game before the final whistle sounded on what could turn out to be a very important Sevilla victory.
