La Liga: Real Held By Osasuna On Snowy Pitch

Real Madrid were frustrated to a goalless draw by struggling Osasuna on Saturday amid persistent snow, passing up the chance to go clear at the top of La Liga.

Zinedine Zidane's side were held up on the runway in Madrid for four hours the day before the game due to the snowstorm that pummelled Spain and things did not get any easier for them when they kicked off on the snowy pitch at the El Sadar Stadium.

The closest they came to finding a breakthrough was when Karim Benzema had two goals ruled out for offside in the second half, while they were fortunate not to concede to an Osasuna side who got their tactics spot on.

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The draw kept the champions second in the standings on 37 points, one behind leaders Atletico Madrid, whose game against Athletic Bilbao was postponed due to the snowstorm, leaving them with three games in hand. Osasuna stays 19th.

Real midfielder Toni Kroos said his side should have done better, notwithstanding the tough conditions.

"We created very few chances, a team of our quality needs to create more, even when the pitch is difficult to play on like it was today. We knew that our opponents were going to defend as they did," he said.

"The pitch is no excuse, both sides had to play on this pitch. We can't be happy with the result because we're fighting to be top of the league and this draw doesn't help us."

A team of 50 workers laboured throughout the day to make the pitch playable and clear it of the snow that covered the city of Pamplona and continued to fall during the match.

But the conditions inevitably favoured Osasuna, who were happy to sit back and defend deep to afford their visitors as little space as possible.

The plan worked as Madrid failed to have a shot on target in the first half for the first time this season in the league.