Ronaldo keeps Real in title race

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Champions League finalists Real Madrid defeated Valencia 3-2 to prevent Barcelona from lifting the Primera Division title this weekend.

Atletico Madrid, who meet Real in the Champions League final later this month, were eliminated from the three-horse race for the domestic title in Spain, which will now be decided during the last round of fixtures after Zinedine Zidane’s men and Barca both won.

A brace from Ronaldo, which took his tally for the season to 33 in the division, was sandwiched between a controversial Karim Benzema strike as a much-changed Madrid side maintained the one-point gap to leaders Barca.

Los Merengues conclude their campaign at Deportivo next weekend and they must hope Barcelona, who boast a better head-to-head record, drop points at Granada.

Real’s two titles rivals were already 1-0 up by the time they had threatened, with Casemiro, one of a number of changes made by Zidane, firing wide.

Ronaldo squandered his first chance when one-on-one with Diego Alves having been sent through by Toni Kroos, yet the Portuguese would not miss when opportunity knocked again moments later.

Marcelo …

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