Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez reflected on the fickle nature of football after watching his side drop two points against Malaga.

Sevilla could have moved level with Real Madrid with a victory and one point clear of second-placed Barca ahead of tonight's 'Clasico' between the top two at the Nou Camp.

However, they were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw, much to Jimenez's frustration as fourth-placed Valencia were also held to a home draw by sixth-placed Real Mallorca earlier in the evening.

"We lost a tremendous opportunity to close the gap to Barcelona and Madrid and distance ourselves from two of the teams chasing us, but football is so unpredictable," said Jimenez.

It could have been even worse for Sevilla as they trailed 2-0 at the break before a second-half brace from Luis Fabiano - who also struck the post with a header in the first half - saw them get back on level terms.

Sevilla could have won what was an exciting Andalusian derby in the closing stages but Malaga goalkeeper Gustavo Munua produced a brilliant stop to keep out Sebastien Squillaci's point-blank header.

Jimenez admits he could not fault his side's commitment, saying: "A team that creates 10 chances is not lacking spark or anything.

"We need to congratulate Malaga because, from one opportunity, they have scored two goals. As well as that, they have committed around 28 fouls, which has affected Sevilla's play.

"We created a lot of opportunities, what we didn't have was the efficiency or clinical approach to make the most of them. Sevilla were far superior to Malaga, we found ourselves 2-0 against the run of play, but the team did everything they had to do."