Soccer

Sergio Ramos comes to the rescue yet again for Real Madrid

Skipper heads home injury-time winner to put hus side six points clear at the top

Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos heads home the winning goal in injury time during the La Liga game against Deportivo la Coruna at the Santiago Bernabeu. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images
Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos heads home the winning goal in injury time during the La Liga game against Deportivo la Coruna at the Santiago Bernabeu. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images
Sat Dec 10 2016 - 22:18

La Liga round-up: Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos again came to his side's rescue as they snatched a dramatic 3-2 victory over Deportivo La Coruna at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night to keep Zinedine Zidane's side six points clear at the top of La Liga and set a club record 35 games unbeaten.

Ramos, the scorer of Real’s 90th-minute equaliser last week against Barcelona, headed in Toni Kroos’s 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 84th and preserve the unbeaten run but yet again Ramos had the final say.

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Zidane, who rested several players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, 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, Karim 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.

The Spanish champions missed a slew of chances in a dominant first-half display but their class eventually shone through 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 Ronaldo as the league’s top scorer with 11 goals.

“We had a lot of chances and we knew that as soon as we got ahead it would open up. Fortunately, we were able to see out the game,” Suarez told reporters.

“We can’t give up the fight. We’re Barca and we’re title candidates. We won’t give up whether we’re five, six or seven points behind.”