Sevilla came from two goals down to salvage a point in a riveting Andalusian derby against Malaga at La Rosaleda.
A first-half brace from Salva Ballesta put Antonio Tapia's men firmly in control at the interval, but the Rojiblancos fought back with goals from Fredi Kanoute and Luis Fabiano either side of a red card for Malaga full-back Javier Calleja.
The comeback will serve as a blow to Malaga's dreams of forcing their way into Champions League contention but they can have few complaints in a game the visitors dominated.
The result keeps Sevilla in third place on 51 points, while Malaga remain eight points further back.
Sevilla started the game in determined fashion, subjecting the hosts to a sustained spell of pressure and they thought they had grabbed the lead after seven minutes when defender Sebastien Squillaci headed home from five yards only to be denied by an offside flag.
The visitors came close again with efforts from Kanoute and Ndri Romaric, but it was Malaga who took the lead against the run of play after 19 minutes.
Ballesta picked up possession on the edge of the Sevilla area and lifted the ball over the head of Aquivaldo Mosquera before firing a left-footed volley across Andres Palop into the far corner.
It was a fine individual goal from the veteran striker against the club with whom he started his career and his day got even better when he doubled the hosts' lead shortly after the half-hour mark.
He stole in between two defenders to guide a ball over the top into corner with the outside of his right boot.
Sevilla would have been aggrieved to find themselves two goals behind at the interval having dominated possession for most of the first half, and the hosts seemed content to sit back and protect their lead after the break.
And it looked like it might be their day when Kanoute and Fabiano both missed the target when well placed, while Inaki Goitia was equal to attempts from Diego Capel and Jesus Navas.
But Kanoute finally broke the Malaga resistance when he latched on to a throughball from Diego Perotti and fired a low shot through the legs of Goitia at his near post.
Calleja was then given his marching orders with 10 minutes remaining for a bad tackle from behind on Capel, and that was the cue for an all-out assault on the home goal from the visitors who sensed an opportunity to snatch at least a point.
And they leveled with their next attack as Fabiano headed Adriano's cross into the bottom corner just four minutes later.
However, the 10 men of Malaga then succeeded in stemming the tide by slowing the game down and Sevilla never really looked like grabbing a winner.
