Real Madrid kept up the pressure on Barcelona with a relatively comfortable home win over Malaga.
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Sergio Ramos put the the Bernabeu side after 24 minutes as he prodded home a Cristiano Ronaldo cross.
It was end to end stuff for much of the game and James Rodriguez won Real Madrid a second half spot-kick but Cristiano Ronaldo thumped the penalty against the post.
Two minutes later James Rodriguez combined well with two team-mates before firing home a quality long range strike.
Just a minute later Juanmi headed in a Malaga reply though Carlo Ancelotti will be wondering why his side were not adequately marking the forward.
Ronaldo was perhaps lucky to get away with an apparent punch on Malaga right-back Roberto Rosales, the Real Madrid man may well face retroactive punishment for the incident.
In the dying seconds of the encounter Cristiano Ronaldo bagged his 50th goal of the season, scoring from a couple of yards out after excellent work from Javier Hernandez.