Manuel Pellegrini lauds never-say-die Real

With leaders Barcelona being held 2-2 at Almeria earlier in the evening, Madrid had the chance to take over at the top of the table if they could make it 13 wins out of 13 at their Bernabeu home this season by beating Sevilla.

However, the big-spending capital club looked to have wasted the opportunity as two defensive errors at the start of each half allowed Sevilla to build a 2-0 lead with only 30 minutes to go.

Madrid staged a stunning recovery though, drawing level through goals by Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos, and then hitting the woodwork three times and creating a host of other chances before substitute Rafael van der Vaart stabbed in the winner two minutes into injury-time. That victory lifted Madrid above Barcelona and gave them a huge confidence boost ahead of Wednesday's Champions League last-16 second leg against Lyon, where the Spanish giants need to overturn a 1-0 deficit if they are to progress through to the quarter-finals. Pellegrini admitted his side started slowly but claimed they fully deserved the three points in the end.

"We were asleep for the first 15 minutes. Maybe we were thinking of Barcelona's draw in Almeria, of being leaders, of the Champions League game ... nobody wanted to play in this manner," he said. "But after Sevilla's goal we reacted and from then on we played great football, created many opportunities and managed to miss four or five clear goalscoring chances.

"They barely had any chances and their two goals were quite strange and absurd. The scoreline did not reflect the difference there was between the two teams. Psychologically the winner was very important."

Serie A leaders Inter Milan were held to a goalless draw by Genoa at the San Siro. The Nerazzurri went into the game knowing a win would see them climb six points clear of second-placed AC Milan after the Rossoneri were held to a 0-0 draw by Roma on Saturday.

Bayer Leverkusen missed a chance to regain the Bundesliga lead yesterday by losing 3-2 at lowly Nuremberg for their first defeat of the season. Leverkusen remain three points behind leader Bayern Munich.