First Division - Day 27

Real Madrid 2 - Betis 1

Madrid: Keylor Navas; Dani Carvajal, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; James (Lucas Vázquez 69’), Modric, Kroos, Isco (Marco Asensio 79‘); Morata (Benzema 71’), Ronaldo. 4-4-2.
Betis: Adán; Piccini, Mandi (Rafa Navarro 84’), Pezzella, Tosca, Durmisi; Brasanac (Alex Alegría 86’), Rubén Pardo, Dani Ceballos; Sanabria, Rubén Castro (Petros 64’). 5-3-2.

Goals:
0-1. 25. Sanabria. Shot from edge of area which Keylor Navas helped in to net.
1-1. 41. Ronaldo. Steered header wide of Adán after Marcelo crossed from left.
2-1. 81. Sergio Ramos. Came from behind to head Kroos corner wide of keeper.

Yellow cards: Piccini 29’, 78’, Marcelo 86’ / red cards: Piccini 78’.

Real Madrid moved back to the top of the table after a 2-1 victory over Betis on Sunday evening, Zidane’s side now two points above Barcelona with a game in hand after the Catalans lost at Deportivo earlier in the day. The coach made several changes to his line-up following Tuesday’s Champions League game, and Morata, James and Isco all missed chances early on. Keylor Navas was lucky to stay on the park though when he raced out of his area and brought down Brasanac as he advanced on goal, and a few minutes later the keeper could only fumble the ball in to his own net after he stopped a long shot from Sanabria. With four minutes to go to the break however Ronaldo levelled the scores with a header from Marcelo’s cross, and after the interval the Portuguese striker got the ball in the net only to be pulled up for the tightest of offside decisions. Later on in the second half the Andalusians were left with ten men when Piccini was shown a second yellow card, and three minutes later Sergio Ramos (who was the hero against Napoli midweek) ran in to head a Kroos corner past Adán for the winner.