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Celta Vigo logo
La Liga
May 17, 2017 at 8pm UK
 
Real Madrid logo

1-4

Guidetti (69')
FT(HT: 0-1)
Ronaldo (10', 48'), Benzema (70'), Kroos (88')

Cristiano Ronaldo brace puts Real Madrid within one point of La Liga title

Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice as Real Madrid brush aside Celta Vigo 4-1 at Balaidos, leaving them on the brink of a first La Liga title since 2012.

Real Madrid have defeated Celta Vigo 4-1 at Balaidos to take another giant step towards winning their first La Liga title in five years.

Los Blancos, who benefited from some questionable refereeing decisions, got the job done in their penultimate league game of the season thanks in large part to another brace from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Celta put up a brave fight in this rearranged fixture, even when reduced to 10 men for the final 30 minutes, but in the end Real proved too strong and now require just one point from their trip to Malaga on Sunday.

Ronaldo fired the visitors ahead through the first attempt of the evening, picking up a loose ball 20 yards from goal and blasting a clean strike past Sergio Alvarez via the legs of Gustavo Cabral - his 19th goal against Celta in 12 games.

Celta arguably had the better of the first-half chances, though, coming close through strikes from John Guidetti and Daniel Wass, the latter of whom sent a fizzing free kick right down the middle.

Eighteen-goal Iago Aspas grew into the match and had two openings in the space of a minute, first picking out the side-netting when he should have been testing Keylor Navas, before firing a yard wide from the edge of the box.

A big talking point arrived 40 minutes in when the ball popped up and hit Raphael Varane on the arm right on the edge of the penalty area, but the referee failed to spot it and instead booked Aspas for dissent.

Madrid's best spell of the half arrived in the dying embers, as Isco failed to get the ball out of his feet when as good as through, moments before Karim Benzema fared only marginally better when denied by Alvarez between the sticks.

Celta, who knocked Madrid out of the Copa del Rey earlier this season and also beat Barcelona here, had lost all eight games this term that they had trailed at the break.

Any hopes of improving on that record were as good as ended a few minutes into the half after a marginally offside Ronaldo extended his career goals tally against the Sky Blues, latching on to Isco's through-ball and tucking home off the post.

Vigo's task was made all the more difficult on the hour as Aspas was shown a second yellow for a supposed dive inside the area, despite seemingly being shoved in the back by Sergio Ramos.

A bereft-of-confidence Guidetti did give Celta hope of picking up a first point in six outings, benefiting from an Isco error by sending a deflected shot over the reach of Navas.

Just a minute or so later parity was restored, though, as Benzema linked up with Marcelo inside the box and was gifted a tap-in to put Real on the brink of another league win.

Isco was denied by Alvarez from 18 yards out in the remaining minutes and Ronaldo somehow missed from a one-on-one position, but the fifth goal of the night did arrive late on.

Toni Kroos made it look easy, composing himself when spotted by Benzema in the area and picking out the near corner, putting the icing on the cake for champions-elect Madrid with a second 4-1 win in the space of three days.

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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
CReal Madrid34276174225287
2GironaGirona34235673423174
3Barcelona34227570432773
4Atletico MadridAtletico34214963392467
5Athletic Bilbao341710755332261
6Real Sociedad341412848351354
7Real BetisBetis34131384339452
8Valencia34138133739-247
9Villarreal34129135658-245
10Getafe341013114147-643
11AlavesAlaves34118153238-641
12Sevilla341011134546-141
13Osasuna34116173751-1439
14Las PalmasLas Palmas34107173043-1337
15Celta Vigo34810164052-1234
16Rayo Vallecano34713142743-1634
17Mallorca34614142740-1332
18CadizCadiz34414162349-2626
19Granada3449213664-2821
RAlmeria34211213367-3417


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