Madrid, October 25

Real Madrid inflicted Celta Vigo’s first defeat of the season to move three points clear at the top of La Liga thanks to a 3-1 win at Balaidos on Saturday.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Danilo struck within the first 23 minutes for Madrid, who were also grateful to another spectacular goalkeeping display from Keylor Navas to keep Celta at bay. Celta were reduced to 10 men just 12 minutes into the second-half when Gustavo Cabral was dismissed for a second bookable offence, but they still pushed Madrid all the way as Nolito set up a grandstand finish five minutes from time when he fired into the top corner. However, Marcelo rounded off the scoring with the final kick of the game. Victory takes Madrid three points clear of Celta and Barcelona, who entertain Eibar on Sunday.

That early dominance was rewarded on eight minutes when Lucas Vazquez’s cut-back trickled through to Ronaldo who smashed home his 12th goal. Celta had thrashed Barcelona 4-1 last month and going behind appeared to shock the Galicians back into their early season form as Fabian Orellana forced Navas into his first and arguably best save of the afternoon as he flew to his right to turn the volley behind.

Elsewhere, Sevilla’s upturn in form continued as Kevin Gameiro scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of Getafe. Malaga distanced themselves from the bottom three as they registered a 2-0 win over Deportivo la Coruna.