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Madrid, Feb 12: Real Madrid maintained a one point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga as Cristiano Ronaldo was on target in a hard fought 3-1 win at rock bottom Osasuna.
Earlier, Barca’s front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all struck in a 6-0 thrashing of Alaves.
Madrid also have two games in hand on their title rivals.
However, both games were overshadowed by horrible injuries as Barca’s Aleix Vidal suffered a dislocated right ankle that will keep him out for five months and Osasuna’s Tano Bonnin a double leg fracture. Also read: EPL wrap: Manchester United, Arsenal register wins in the English Premier League
“There is no such a difference (between the sides). It is true it was the leader against last in the table, but you have to play the games and the opponents always make it difficult against Madrid,” said Real boss Zinedine Zidane.
“We have to suffer, but in the end we got what we came for.”
The game at El Sadar was only 15 minutes old when Bonnin came off worse in an innocuous looking challenge with Isco to the visible shock of players on both sides. Also read: I-League: East Bengal, Mohun Bagan eye supremacy in Kolkata derby
Osasuna had started on the front foot, but suffered a further blow nine minutes later when Karim Benzema’s through ball found Ronaldo and the World Player of the Year’s drive from a narrow angle had too much power for Salvatore Sirigu.
The hosts responded in style just after the half hour mark when Sergio Leon broke into an ocean of space behind the Madrid defence before producing a cool chip over Keylor Navas to level.
Navas then made brilliant saves from Emmanuel Riviere and Leon either side of half-time to keep Madrid on level terms.
And eventually their extra quality shone through when Isco latched onto a loose ball inside the area and slotted into the far corner just after the hour mark.
Madrid should have gone onto win by a more comfortable margin as Sirigu made a fine save from Ronaldo before the Portuguese and Lucas Vazquez had strong claims for a penalty waived away.
However, Vazquez made the points safe with a measured dink over Sirigu in the final minute of stoppage time.
– Violent clashes –
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Barca’s success was also soured by violent clashes between fans outside the ground before kick-off which left one supporter in hospital with serious head injuries.
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