Gareth Bale marked his return to action after a long injury layoff by sealing a 2-0 victory for Real Madrid over Espanyol on Saturday to provisionally stretch Zinedine Zidane's side's lead at the top of La Liga to three points.
Alvaro Morata headed home a floated cross from Isco to put Real ahead after 33 minutes against a stubborn Espanyol side and Bale steered another pass from the Spain midfielder in off the post in the 83rd minute shortly after coming off the bench.
Bale, making his first appearance since damaging ankle ligaments against Sporting Lisbon in November, netted his eighth goal of the season. Real also set a club record of scoring in 42 consecutive games in all competitions.
"I'm delighted that Gareth is back and especially for him, he was so keen to return and feel like a player again after almost three months away from the pitch," Zidane told reporters.
Real top the standings on 52 points, three clear of Sevilla, who beat Eibar 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Pablo Sarabia and Vitolo in either half, and four ahead of Barcelona, who host Leganes on Sunday. Real have two games in hand on Sevilla and one on Barcelona.
Sevilla kept the pressure on Real with the help of an inspired performance from Stevan Jovetic, a loan signing from Inter Milan in January, who laid on the passes for both their goals.
The Montenegrin forward conjured up a classy piece of skill in the Eibar area before serving a cross for Sarabia to volley home from close range in the 30th minute and then pulled the ball back for Vitolo to make sure of the win in injury time.
The win gives Sevilla a timely confidence boost before their Champions League last-16 game with Leicester on Wednesday and their local derby at Real Betis next Saturday.
"We knew what we had to do but we didn't have the best of days. We committed a lot of errors and gave the ball away a lot but these are the types of games you have to win because they determine whether you are title candidates or not," Sarabia told BeIN sports.
Earlier on Saturday, Kevin Gameiro came off the bench to score a hat-trick in the space of five minutes to fire Atletico Madrid to a 4-1 win over struggling Sporting Gijon that kept them fourth in the standings on 45 points.
Yannick Carrasco had given Atletico the lead 12 seconds into the second half but Sergio Alvarez gave the impressive home side a deserved equaliser in the 49th minute.
For the second week in a row, however, Atletico dug deep to rescue the points from an unconvincing display.
Antoine Griezmann had a goal harshly ruled out for offside but laid on the pass for Gameiro's first strike, the former Sevilla player calmly rounding Ivan Cuellar to put Atletico ahead in the 80th minute.
Gameiro ruthlessly killed off Sporting with two quick-fire strikes, latching on to a pass from Thomas Partey to score in the 81st minute and taking advantage of another through ball from Griezmann to complete his treble.
The Frenchman is the first Atletico player to score a hat-trick in the league as a substitute while his treble was the second-fastest in the history of La Liga, behind only Bebeto's for Deportivo La Coruna against Albacete in 1995.
"We didn't imagine anything else than the difficult game we had. Atletico have always struggled to win here," said Atletico coach Diego Simeone.
"The substitutes gave us an extra boost and made us stronger in midfield and then Gameiro's speed settled the game."
Reuters
Sun Feb 19 2017
Real Madrid's Gareth Bale scores against Espanyol during the Spanish La Liga Santander between Real Madrid and Espanyol, Feb 18, 2017. REUTERS
Pesara tentera maut dilanggar lori menggelongsor
Orang ramai yang mempunyai maklumat berhubung kejadian diminta menyalurkan maklumat berkenaan kepada pegawai penyiasat kes.
25 terbunuh bas terjunam gaung di utara Peru
Bas antara negeri itu membawa 50 penumpang apabila insiden itu berlaku kira-kira 10.10 malam waktu tempatan.
Jepun, Uzbekistan berentap final Piala Asia B-23
Pasukan yang kalah dalam penentuan tempat ketiga itu akan menentang Guinea yang berada pada kedudukan keempat.
Che'gu Bard tiba di Mahkamah Sesyen Johor Bahru berdepan tuduhan lagi
Beliau yang hadir bersama peguamnya, Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, dijangka berdepan satu lagi pertuduhan mengikut Akta Hasutan 1948.
Niaga AWANI: KWSP: Melestari kehidupan persaraan
Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) dikatakan bukan satu-satunya organisasi yang bertanggungjawab dari segi menambah baik kehidupan masyarakat. Namun KWSP telah memperkenalkan Akaun Fleksibel dan berkuat kuasa mulai 11 Mei 2024. Bagaimana pengurusan persaraan selepas ini dan apakah pendekatan terbaik bagi meningkatkan literasi kewangan dalam kalangan masyarakat?
CapCut juga mungkin akan diharamkan di Amerika Syarikat
Menurut laporan The Washington Post, Amerika Syarikat turut akan memerlukan CapCut dijual untuk terus beroperasi di negara mereka.
Niaga AWANI: WEF: Exploring multiple dimensions for energy transition
Current climate change has left a significant impact on the health of the planet. Therefore, global at this time gives special focus on energy transition efforts. Head of Centre for Energy and Materials; Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum, Roberto Bocca shares on this at the World Economic Forum from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Niaga AWANI: WEF: Addressing the economic spillover of Middle East tensions
With the Middle East conflict escalating following Iran's attack on Israel early on Sunday, fears are mounting that another series of destructive shockwaves will reverberate through global markets. Head of Research, MIER, Dr Shankaran Nambiar, speaks further on this matter.
AWANI Pagi: Pendidikan kanak-kanak Malaysia ketinggalan?
Ikuti perkongsian pandangan Pensyarah Kanan Jabatan Asas Pendidikan, Fakulti Pendidikan UiTM, Dr Khadijah Said Hashim susulan laporan yang dikeluarkan Bank Dunia baru-baru ini.
AWANI Ringkas: 'Geng Bob' tumpas, lima ditahan disyaki edar dadah
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
De la Fuente cari permulaan cemerlang bersama La Roja
Sebelum ini, kapten Sergio Busquets bersara dan De la Fuente menggantikan Luis Enrique sebagai pengendali pasukan.
Kelayakan Piala Dunia: Jaringan Morata julang Sepanyol
Sweden perlu ke play-off selepas skuad kendalian Luis Enrique memenangi perlawanan akhir peringkat kumpulan itu.
Euro 2020: Kegagalan Morata buat Sepanyol disingkir Itali
Morata gagal menyempurnakan sepakan penalti, sekali gus akur membenarkan Itali mara ke final Euro 2020 awal pagi tadi.
Euro 2020: Sepanyol 'perah keringat' sebelum ke suku akhir
Sepanyol berjaya menemui ramuan memastikan mereka melangkah ke suku akhir selepas Morata dan Oyarzabal menjaringkan dua gol memastikan pasukannya melakar kemenangan dramatik.
Euro 2020: Sepanyol ke pusingan 16 selepas belasah Slovakia
Skuad kendalian Luis Enrique itu memerlukan kemenangan untuk mengesahkan kemaraan mereka selepas sekadar seri dalam dua perlawanan pertama.
Euro 2020: Lewandowski bantu Poland ikat Sepanyol
Alvaro Morata menutup mulut pengkritiknya apabila membuka jaringan buat Sepanyol dalam pertemuan di Seville itu selepas dikritik hebat gara-gara aksi hambarnya Selasa lalu.
Lebih sempurna bersama Juventus - Morata
Penyerang itu meledak enam gol daripada lima penampilan dalam saingan UCL dan menjelaskan sangat gembira kembali ke Turin buat kali kedua.
Juventus sambut baik kepulangan Morata ke Turin
Morata dilaporkan akan menyertai Juve secara pinjaman daripada Atletico Madrid dengan kesepakatan melibatkan pembayaran 9 juta pound (RM43.7 juta).
Chelsea tundukkan Crystal Palace 3-1
Menerusi aksi di Stamford Bridge itu, gol pertama perlawanan hadir pada minit ke-32 menerusi Alvaro Morata yang juga menjaringkan gol kedua buat Chelsea pada aksi sama.
Sarri tidak khuatir ketumpulan Morata, Giroud
Chelsea mempunyai serangan ketiga terbaik dalam Liga Perdana Inggeris - di belakang Manchester City dan Arsenal - serta muncul pertahanan ketiga terbaik (dibolosi tujuh kali).