Real Madrid grabbed their 4th consecutive league win as Sergio Ramos, James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo found the back of the net.
Real Madrid are still fighting for La Liga and The Whites can still hope to make it theirs, being two points behind Barcelona and just six more games to go. They have proved that they are going to pose a serious challenge to Barcelona till the very end as they won their fourth consecutive game in the league. Real Madrid won convincingly against Malaga by a 3-1 scoreline and now gear up to host Atletico in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final.
The game began on a sour note for Real Madrid as Carlo Ancelotti was forced to make his first substitution of the game in only the fifth minute. Gareth Bale was forced to come off as the Welshman had discomfort in his calf muscle. Chicharito came on as the first substitution for Real Madrid. 20 minutes after the substitution, things started to work in Real Madrida s favour as Sergio Ramos broke the deadlock. Ronaldoa s free-kick landed in the legs of Ramos, who looked slightly offside and the Spaniard easily poke it into the back of the net to open the scoring.
Second half kicked off and in no less than 57 minutes, Real Madrid suffered another huge blow as Modric started complaining about a knee injury. The Croat was replaced by Illarramendi. In the 66th minute, Real Madrid looked lethal on the counter as Ronaldo set up Marcelo with a backheel pass, who in turn gave the ball to James. But the Colombian was brought down in the box by Samu Castillejo and the home side were awarded a penalty. However, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to convert it as his low shot went past the keeper, Kameni, only to hit the left post. Three minutes after the missed penalty, Real Madrid doubled their lead through James Rodriguez. James probably produced the best move of the game as he completed two consecutive one-twos with Isco and Ronaldo and then sent a powerful bullet past Kameni from the edge of the area. Malaga, however, did not give up and turned on the intensity as just two minutes late they got their first goal of the game. Juanmi headed the ball into the back of the net from six yards with just 15 minutes left on the clock. Despite Malagaa s goal, Real Madrid were able to defend the lead and they doubled it in injury time. Chicharito escaped his marker and set up Ronaldo, who easily tapped the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-1.
After the game, Ancelotti confirmed that Real Madrid will fight till the end and their aim is to keep La Liga alive for as long as possible.
Ancelotti said: a Our aim is to keep it alive for as long as possible. Both sides have difficult games. At the moment both sides are playing for a lot, and that means that every game is difficult. Barcelona have an advantage. We have to try and win all our games to force them to also win.a
Speaking about the victory and injuries to Bale and Modric, Ancelotti said: a It was a positive game, it wasn’t negative even if we had two problems with Bale and Modric. The game was positive because the side won despite lots of difficulties, injuries, a missed penalty…We fought, everyone really gave everything they could and worked well.a
