Cristiano Ronaldo made amends for recent critical comments of his Real Madrid teammates with a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win at Levante UD on Wednesday to cut the gap on La Liga leaders Barcelona to nine points.
Ronaldo’s penalty and an own-goal from Levante goalkeeper Diego Marino put the visitors in command before Deyverson pulled one back for Levante before halftime.
However, Isco’s late strike from Ronaldo’s cut-back secured the points in stoppage-time.
Photo: Reuters
Real trail second-placed Atletico Madrid by four points, but opened up a four-point lead of their own on Villarreal, who were held 0-0 at RC Celta de Vigo.
Gary Neville’s Valencia moved into the top half of the table as they benefited from a spectacular own-goal by Malaga goalkeeper Carlos Kameni to win 2-1 at La Rosaleda.
Real coach Zinedine Zidane was without a host of first team regulars as the suspended Dani Carvajal and Sergio Ramos joined the injured Marcelo, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema on the sidelines.
However, Ronaldo started, despite causing controversy with an outburst claiming Real “would be top” of the league if his teammates matched his standards after defeat to Atletico at the weekend.
“When there are changes, you think it is going to be more difficult, but with the effort and commitment of everyone, we managed to get the three points and a good performance,” Zidane said.
Real had former Levante goalkeeper Keylor Navas to thank for not getting off to a terrible start as he produced a brilliant save low to his left to prevent Giuseppe Rossi giving the home side a shock lead.
Ronaldo opened the scoring from the spot on 34 minutes after Lucas Vazquez had been tripped inside the area by Lucas Orban.
Injuries to Benzema and Bale opened the door for 18-year-old Borja Mayoral to get his first league start and he took his opportunity when his shot from the edge of the box hit the post and cannoned into the net off Marino’s back three minutes later.
However, Levante were back in the game instantly as the Real defense were caught flat-footed appealing for an offside flag that never arrived and Deyverson slotted into the bottom corner.
Real had much better control of the game after the break and Ronaldo was desperately unlucky not to restore their two-goal lead when he struck the post from James Rodriguez’s fine through-ball.
However, Zidane’s men needed to rely on Navas once more to secure the points as he made a flying save to parry Ruben Garcia’s shot from distance.
Isco answered his recent critics with a calm finish from Ronaldo’s cut-back in stoppage-time to round off the scoring.
Defeat leaves Levante still rooted to the foot of the table, six points off safety.
Villarreal’s hopes of temporarily usurping Real Madrid into third were dashed in a game of few chances against Celta.
Sevilla closed the gap on Villarreal to nine points in their quest for UEFA Champions League soccer, as Fernando Llorente’s early strike handed the UEFA Europa League holders their 15th straight home win in all competitions, 1-0 over Sociedad Deportiva Eibar.
Valencia moved up to ninth as they recovered from Duje Cop’s early deflected opener to register Neville’s third league win.
Kameni punched the ball into his own net under pressure from Denis Cheryshev just before halftime and Real loanee Cheryshev completed the turnaround when he fired into the bottom corner five minutes after the break.
Aritz Aduriz continued his push to be included in Spain’s squad for Euro 2016, scoring a hat-trick in Athletic Bilbao’s 4-1 victory over RC Deportivo de La Coruna to take his goal tally for the season to 30.
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