Real hang on to La Liga lead

– 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 on Saturday.

Earlier, Barca’s front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar (above) all struck in a 6-0 thrashing away to 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.

“There is no such a difference (between the sides). It is true it was the leaders 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.

The game at El Sadar was only 15 minutes old when Bonnin came off worse in an innocuous looking challenge with Isco.

Osasuna suffered a further blow nine minutes later when Karim Benzema’s through ball found Ronaldo and his drive from a narrow angle had too much power for Salvatore Sirigu.

The hosts responded just after the half-hour mark when Sergio Leon broke into space behind the Madrid defence before chipping over Keylor Navas to level.

Navas then made brilliant saves from Emmanuel Riviere and Leon either side of half-time.

And their extra quality shone through when Isco latched on to a loose ball inside the area and slotted into the far corner just after the hour mark.

Vazquez made the points safe with a measured dink over Sirigu in the final minute of stoppage time. – AFP