Gareth Bale was hauled off, Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty and reached another landmark as Real Madrid defeated Malaga 3-1 in La Liga on Saturday.
Pepe returned in place of Raphael Varane at centre-back, having missed Tuesday’s trip to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals, while Alvaro Arbeloa replaced Dani Carvajal.
Consequently, Carlo Ancelotti reshuffled his pack, with James moving into attack and Gareth Bale switching to the left flank in order to accommodate Isco in central midfield.
Los Blancos endured a difficult start to the match as Bale went down clutching his left calf and was forced off after just four minutes, but the setback didn’t stop them from pummelling the Malaga defence early on.
Carlos Kameni was by far the best player on the pitch in the first half, having made a string of impressive saves to deny the likes of James and Chicharito from close range, but he could do nothing about Ramos’ opener.
A free kick from the left-hand side was rocketed into the box by Cristiano Ronaldo, but it needed a decisive touch from Ramos to cross the line, although the defender looked to be marginally offside.
Nonetheless, the Andalucians ought to have restored parity shortly before the interval as Samu Garcia’s pullback was met by an unmarked Sergi Darder in the box, but the midfielder could only blast his finish high and wide.
The second half started very similarly to the first as another former Tottenham star Luka Modric suffered a potential injury and had to leave the field of play.
Still, Madrid continued to wrestle back control of the game and looked to have created distance between themselves and Malaga when James was hauled down in the box. Ronaldo, however, slammed the penalty against the post.
Los Blancos maintained their high-pressure game and eventually reaped the rewards, the influential James playing a pair of quick-fire one-twos and unleashing a piledriver from the edge of the box beyond a flailing Kameni, who could have done better.
Yet for all of Madrid’s mounting domination, they were shellshocked when Juanmi – completely unmarked in the area – was only too happy to send a free header past Iker Casillas to set up a nail-biting end for home supporters.
Nonetheless, only a fool would rule out Madrid with Ronaldo still on the pitch, and he was on hand to tap his side’s third and final goal of the night after good work from Chicharito to ghost in behind his marker and square the ball for his teammate.
With that, the No 7 reached the 50-goal mark for the fifth straight season and helped to sustain the capital giants’ pressure on Barcelona atop the League standings.
Real Madrid 3-1 Malaga
Ramos 24, James 69, Ronaldo 90 (R) Juanmi 72 (M)
Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa (Carvajal 76), Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo; Modric (Illarramendi 76), Kroos, Isco; James, Ronaldo, Bale (Chicharito 5)
Malaga: Kameni; Rosales, Angeleri, Sanchez, Boka; Recio (Tissone 75), Darder (Duda 87); Samu, Amrabat, Castillejo (Horta 81); Juanmi
Referee: Bikandi Garrido
