BARCELONA: Gareth Bale scored a late winning penalty after Cristiano Ronaldo had been sent off for the ninth time in his career as Real Madrid came from behind to beat Cordoba 2-1 in La Liga, and Lionel Messi reached the 30-goal mark for a seventh straight season on Saturday.

Real completed their comeback when Bale converted an 89th-minute penalty, after Ronaldo was given a straight red card for kicking out at an opponent, to ensure his team kept the league lead.

Messi then did all he could to keep Barca one point behind their fierce rivals by scoring his 30th and 31st goals in all competitions this season and setting up Neymar for two more in the 6-0 romp at 10-man Elche.

European champions Real remain top with 48 points, one more than Barca and also with a game in hand, but the loss of world player of the year and their leading scorer Ronaldo through a ban could cause problems.

“There’s still a long way to go this season, a lot of games before we talk about the title,” Bale said. “What’s clear to us is that there can be games like this one when the going gets tough. Cristiano is really disappointed with his red card, but these are things that happen in football.”

Defending champions Atletico Madrid stayed in the hunt in third place, four points off the top, after Antoine Griezmann netted a brace in a 3-1 victory over visitors Rayo Vallecano.

Rayo defensive errors were pounced on by Griezmann to score in the 12th and 22nd. Roberto Trashorras pulled one back before half-time before Manucho’s own goal in the 56th as Atletico moved up to 44 points.

Elsewhere, a Luciano Vietto strike gave sixth-placed Villarreal a 1-0 victory over Levante and Xabi Prieto headed home in Real Sociedad’s 1-0 win over Eibar, with both Basque teams remaining in the middle of the table.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2015

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