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.

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.

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.

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.

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.