Real Madrid leap forward

Real Madrid returned to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Espanyol on Saturday, despite playing most of the second-half with 10 men, to move four points clear at the top of La Liga.

Cristiano Ronaldo was restored to the starting line-up after being rested in a 2-0 Cup defeat to Atletico Madrid in midweek and he set up James Rodriguez to open the scoring 12 minutes in.

Gareth Bale then doubled the hosts’ advantage with a sumptuous free-kick, but their route to a comfortable three points was complicated when Fabio Coentrao was sent-off eight minutes into the second period.

Espanyol, though, failed to make their man advantage count as Nacho added a third 14 minutes from time to put the pressure on Madrid’s title rivals Barcelona and Atletico, who face each other at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

“The sending-off was an incomprehensible decision,” complained Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.

“It made the game more complicated for us, but thankfully the team was in a good state mentally,” he added.

Ancelotti made four changes in all from the side that slipped to a 0-2 defeat at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday and there was never any danger of the European champions starting 2015 with three defeats on the spin as they dominated from start to finish.

Karim Benzema was unfortunate not to open the scoring when he smashed a loose ball off the outside of the post on 10 minutes