Madrid: Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos again came to his side’s rescue as they snatched a dramatic 3-2 victory over Deportivo La Coruna here Saturday to keep Zinedine Zidane’s side six points clear at the top of La Liga and set a club record of 35 games unbeaten.
Ramos, the scorer of Real’s 90th-minute equaliser last week against Barcelona, headed in Toni Kroos’ corner in the 93rd minute to complete a stunning turnaround after former Real forward Joselu threatened to unravel the unbeaten run.
Joselu struck twice in the space of two minutes to cancel out Alvaro Morata’s stunning second-half strike in the 63rd minute and gave Deportivo a shock 2-1 lead in the 65th by knocking in a low cross from Florin Andone.
Real youngster Mariano Diaz scored his first league goal to level in the 88th and preserve the unbeaten run but yet again Ramos had the final say.
Zidane, who rested several players, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, was also without Gareth Bale, who has an ankle injury — only the second time since the Welshman joined that Real have been without any of their famous BBC strike force of Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo for a league game.
The win keeps them top of La Liga on 37 points, six clear of nearest challengers Barcelona, who won 3-0 at Osasuna thanks to two second-half strikes from talisman Lionel Messi and an opener from Luis Suarez.
Morata opened the scoring with a wonderful curled shot from outside the area but Joselu, his old strike partner in Real’s reserve team, quickly put Deportivo level by capitalising after Casemiro was dispossessed by Andone.
Romanian forward Andone played a vital role in Joselu’s second goal, too, zipping down the right on a counter and cutting the ball back for the striker to knock through the legs of Keylor Navas.
Zidane turned to Dominican forward Mariano from the bench to get his side out of trouble and his gamble paid off when the 23-year-old scrappily knocked in the equaliser off his shoulder.
Champions Barcelona had put pressure on Real earlier in the day by outplaying Osasuna and picking up a first win in four league games.
Barca missed a slew of chances in a dominant first-half display but their class eventually shone when Suarez tapped Jordi Alba’s cutback into an empty net in the 52nd minute to break the deadlock.
Messi sealed the points in the 72nd by finishing off another pass from Alba, and in stoppage time the Argentine wizard toyed with the Osasuna defence to grab the third and move ahead of Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo as the league’s top scorer with 11 goals.
Reuters
