MADRID (AFP) - Sevilla coach Juande Ramos must be regretting his decision to rest Fredi Kanoute, the Spanish first division´s leading scorer, as they were held to a 0-0 draw by struggling Real Sociedad.

Sharing the points with the relegation-threatened Basque side means that Sevilla stay in second in La Liga and Barcelona will open up a three point gap at the top of the table if they win at Osasuna later on Sunday.

Ramos, clearly believing that he would have enough firepower with his other forwards, gave Kanoute the day off as he had started every other league game this season.

However, the closest Sevilla came to scoring was when their recent Russian acquisition Alexander Kerzhakov hit the cross bar midway through the first half.

The draw will go down as one of the shock results of the season so far as Sevilla had won eight out their nine games at home this season.

Sociedad, who remain second from bottom despite the point and are staring at second division football for the first time in 40 years, came close to providing an even greater upset.

Sadly for the San Sebastian side, their Serb striker Darko Kovacevic had an open goal at his mercy late in the game but headed wide.

At the other end of the table, Sevilla´s local rivals Real Betis are clawing their way out of relegation trouble and they are now unbeaten in four games after their 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao.

Betis´ Brazilian striker Robert got the opener for Betis and then French striker Fabrice Pancrate had a debut to remember by scoring from close range 15 minutes from the end after only being on the pitch three minutes.

Athletic got a late consolation from an Ismael Urzaiz penalty one minute into injury time but the honours went to Betis and their coach Luis Fernandez, who spent four seasons at Bilbao.

Betis may be bouyant but Celta Vigo have slipped into the relegation dogfight and have now gone 10 games without a win after their 1-1 draw with bottom club Gimnastic Tarragona.

The host´s Borja Oubina gave an emphatic answer to Spanish national coach Luis Aragones, who left him out of the squad that will face England on Wednesday, by putting Celta in front after 49 minutes.

Oubina rose above the Gimnastic defence to head home a Gustavo Lopez cross.

However, Gimnastic ended any thoughts of celebrations by equalising through former Real Madrid striker Javier Portillo 13 minutes from the whistle.

Barcelona will be looking to bounce back at Osasuna later on Sunday after their shock Spanish Cup defeat to Zaragoza on Wednesday, their first loss in the Nou Camp stadium in any competition this season.

Samuel Eto´o was a surprise inclusion in the Barca squad that travelled to Pamplona.

The Cameroon striker and the Spanish first division´s leading scorer last season only returned to full training with Barca on Thursday after being out of action for four months with a right knee injury.

Barca´s 2004 and 2005 World Player of the Year Ronaldinho has missed the trip to Pamplona after struggling to recover from bruises to his right knee and ankle sustained in the loss to Zaragoza.

Real Madrid started the weekend in third place and and cannot afford to drop any points in their 1000th game in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium when they face relegation-threatened Levante on Sunday.

Levante´s neighbours Valencia swapped places with Real and moved into third after their 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday, with two of their goals coming from Spanish international Fernando Morientes.

Atletico´s worst defeat of the season means they stay in fifth.