England captain David Beckham was on target as Real Madrid maintained their perfect league record in 2005 with a 2-1 win at bottom club Numancia.
Second half goals from a spectacular Beckham free-kick, his fourth of the season, and Michel Salgado got the points for Real before Miguel Lopez got a late consolation for the hosts.
However, Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas was Madrid's true hero in the freezing conditions, which saw temperatures dropping to five below zero.
The Spanish international saved a Luis Tevenet penalty on 33 minutes after Ivan Helguera had been penalised for climbing all over Numancia's Miguel Lopez. Casillas also denied Numancia on several other occasions, as they belied their place in the basement of the Spanish first division.
"This Real Madrid team is learning to suffer," said Real coach Wanderley Luxemburgo. "This was a game we had to win otherwise Barcelona's gap may have been unbeatable.
"Winning five league games in a row makes me very happy but we have to also remember that we've actually got nothing to show for it so far."
Despite the win, Real remain seven points behind the runaway league leaders and arch rivals Barcelona who won 4-0 at Sevilla on Saturday with goals from Samuel Eto'o, Ronaldinho, Ludovic Giuly and a Julio Baptista own goal.
However, the victory was tinged with controversy as Barca's Brazilian defender Belletti clearly handled the ball in the box when the the scoreline was 0-0.
"Everything could have changed if the referee had blown for a penalty," said Sevilla coach Joaquin Caparros.
Valencia stay in third after their 2-2 draw with Athletic Bilbao but the gap between the reigning Spanish champions and the top two continues to grow as Valencia have now gone three games without a win.
Atheltic were 2-0 up after an hour with goals from Andoni Iraola and Santi Ezquerro, the first from the penalty spot after Marco Caneira had handled the ball, before Valencia salvaged a point with late strikes by Mista Ferrer and Marco Di Vaio.
Former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan contributed two goals as Villarreal notched up their their fourth succesive victory with an emphatic 4-0 win at Real Sociedad on Sunday.
"Four-nil was a little excessive but I think it demonstates the measure of our doiminence on the pitch," said Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini.
"We are in form at the moment becuase we are fighting for every ball. Every body wants to achieve something."
Forlan ignited Villarreal's goal spree when he found the net from the edge of the six yard box for the opener just before the hour.
He then became the provider for Juan Roman Riquelme, sending the ball in from the right for the Argentine international to add Villarreal's second after 77 minutes.
Five minutes later, Forlan found the net for the ninth time in seven games after playing a one-two with Riquelme before Jose Mari Romero finished off the miserable day for the Basque hosts by scoring two minutes into injury time.
Villarreal are now unbeaten in eight games and their run has taken them up to sixth.
Espanyol moved up to fourth with a 2-2 draw with Real Betis but the Barcelona-based side will be regretting twice throwing away the lead.
Ivan De La Pena put Espanyol ahead with a free kick after 28 minutes which sailed straight into the net.
Betis then got back to level terms five minutes after the break when Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni was caught out of position and Assuncao had a relatively easy task of finding the net.
Espanyol looked to have wrapped up the three points nine minutes from the whistle when Raul Tamudo danced his way past Toni Doblas only for Fernando Fernandez to equalise three minutes from time
"We paid badly for our defensive errors," admitted Espanyol coach Miguel Angel Lotina.