Defeat at Girona and goalless stalemates at Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao plunged Madrid into worrying run of away form, although a 3-0 home reverse to fierce rivals Barcelona in their last league outing is likely to have given them the bigger headache over the Christmas period.
But Zinedine Zidane's men were unable to break that streak on Sunday, despite the best efforts of Gareth Bale, who scored both of the visitors' goals in his first league start since September following calf and hamstring problems.