Cristiano Ronaldo struck a brace to power Real Madrid to a 4-1 win against 10-man Celta Vigo in their La Liga clash on Sunday, a result which puts Los Blancos within a point of their first league title since 2012.

After Ronaldo had put the visitors up early in the first-half with a powerful left-footed shot, Zinedine Zidane’s men looked in command of the tie, but seemed to be unable to add to the lead due to their own profligacy and and some desperate last-ditch defending. 

In fact, Celta had a genuine chance to get back into the tie, when Raphael Varane seemed to have handled the ball inside the box, only for match referee Juan Munuera to award Iago Aspas a yellow card for his vociferous protests. 

Madrid’s iconic No.7 scored his second three minutes into the second-half, beating the offside trap to latch onto Isco’s pass before finishing with his weaker foot to double the league leaders’ lead. 

If Ronaldo’s second had gone someway towards confirming the result, Aspas’ red card two minutes after the hour-mark seemed to have effectively sealed it. Already on a booking, the in-form striker went down in the box from a slight challenge by Sergio Ramos and Juan Munuera promptly sent him off for stimulation. Replays clearly showed the Madrid defender had made contact with the Celta forward but the decision was made and there seemed to be nothing which would deny Zidane’s side a vital three points. 

Celta refused to lie down and got a goal back in slightly fortuitous circumstances when John Guidetti’s shot got a significant deflection of Ramos to reduce the deficit in the 69th minute. 

Just as it seemed the hosts might be on course for a remarkable result, Madrid notched their third on the night to confirm the result once and for all.

Marcelo beat his man on the left wing before squaring for Karim Benzema to tap-in from close range barely a minute after they had conceded. 
Ronaldo missed a couple of gilt-edged chances to notch yet another hat-trick but midfielder Toni Kroos then added gloss to the scoreline with a composed finish in the 88th minute, selling a Celta defender a dummy before placing the ball into the net. 

Los Blancos climb to the top of the La Liga table with the result after 37 games played, three points ahead of La Blaugrana. 

Madrid travel to Malaga on Sunday, knowing a draw will confirm their 33rd league title, while Barcelona host Eibar at the same time, desperately hoping their arch-rivals will suffer a shock upset.