First Division - Day 27

Real Madrid 3 - Sporting Gijón 1

Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Garay, Marcelo; Lass (Guti 46'), Xabi Alonso, Van der Vaart (Raúl 73'), Granero (Gago 68'); Cristiano Ronaldo, Higuaín. 4-4-2.
Sporting: Juan Pablo; Lora, Botía, Gregory, Canella; Rivera, Camacho; Luis Morán (Carmelo 70'), Miguel De las Cuevas (Kike Mateo 70'); Diego Castro; Barral (Bilic 73'). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 53. Barral. Ran on to Camacho lofted pass and beat Casillas from wide angle.
1-1. 55. Van der Vaart. Following up after keeper punched out Ronaldo free kick.
2-1. 57. Xabi Alonso. Header from close to goal after Ronaldo headed on corner.
3-1. 68. Higuaín. Picked up ball in midfield and ran on to shoot wide of Juan Pablo.

Yellow cards: Juan Pablo 55', Higuaín 77', Garay 89'.

Real Madrid kept up the pressure on Barcelona with a 3-1 victory against Sporting Gijón on Saturday evening. The Asturians put up a good fight however, and they even went ahead when Barral ran on to Camacho's lifted pass to beat Casillas ten minutes after the restart. A minute later though Van der Vaart equalised after Juan Pablo could only punch out Cristiano Ronaldo's free kick, and two minutes after that Xabi Alonso headed Madrid in front after Ronaldo headed on a corner. Casillas did well to keep out Miguel at the other end soon afterwards, and the team captain had to save from Diego Castro late on after Sergio Ramos gave the ball away, but Higuaín wrapped things up with an individualist third goal to take his side three points clear pending Barcelona's match on Sunday.