BARCELONA — Real Madrid returned to the top of La Liga after winning a testing game at Osasuna 3-1 Saturday thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco and substitute Lucas Vazquez.
Osasuna striker Sergio Leon cancelled out Ronaldo’s 24th-minute opener after defender Tano had been carried off with a sickening double leg break while Real defender Danilo was forced off with an injury in the second half.
Isco restored Real’s lead in the 62nd minute and Zinedine Zidane’s side added a third through Vazquez with the last kick of the game.
Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas produced a string of quality saves to preserve their advantage before Vazquez sealed only a second league win for Real in seven visits to the perennial La Liga strugglers, who are bottom of the table on 10 points.
Real tops the standings on 49 points, leap-frogging Barcelona on 48 after the champions thrashed Alaves 6-0 with the help of goals from their ‘MSN’ trident of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.
Liverpool returns to form
Liverpool belatedly kick-started its year and damaged Tottenham Hotspur’s slender Premier League title hopes as Sadio Mane struck both goals in a 2-0 victory at Anfield Saturday.
Second-placed Tottenham had the chance to cut Chelsea’s lead at the top to six points ahead of its trip to Burnley Sunday, but it was swept aside before halftime by a vibrant Liverpool side which had failed to win in the league in 2017.
Mane, whose absence at the African Nations Cup coincided with Liverpool’s slump, scored in the 16th and 18th minutes and only Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris prevented the Senegalese completing a first-half hat-trick as the visitors buckled.
“The reaction was perfect, it was an outstanding performance offensively in the first half and defensively in the second,” Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp, whose side have crashed out of both domestic cups and fallen off the pace in the league, said.
Tottenham has now failed to win their last nine league matches against Liverpool, losing six, and its meek surrender left manager Mauricio Pochettino critical of his team.
“It is difficult to fight for the Premier League if you show that performance, that lack of desire to play for a win. If you start a game like we start then it is very difficult,” he said.
While Chelsea can go 12 points clear Sunday, Liverpool is right back in the mix in the battle for the top four.
Victory lifted Liverpool back into fourth spot with 49 points from 25 games, one behind second-placed Tottenham and third-placed Arsenal.
Mbappe stars for Monaco
Teenage striker Kylian Mbappe scored a superb hat trick as Monaco hammered Metz 5-0 Saturday to remain three points clear of reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain at the top of Ligue 1.
The highly-rated 18-year-old struck with just eight minutes gone at the Stade Louis II before Radamel Falcao netted his 15th league goal of the season three minutes later.
Mbappe’s blistering pace and steely composure saw him add a third as Monaco threatened a repeat of its 7-0 rout from the reverse fixture in October.
Mbappe completed his treble five minutes into the second half and Falcao rounded out a thumping win as Monaco issued a powerful response to Paris Saint-Germain in the wake of their 3-0 success at Bordeaux Friday.
Lyon slumped to a damaging 2-1 defeat at Guingamp.
Dijon claimed a vital 2-0 home win over Caen amid heavy snowfall in eastern France, while Angers picked up three crucial points with a 2-1 victory at Lille.
Toulouse thrashed nine-man Bastia 4-1 and Montpellier inflicted a 3-0 defeat on Nancy. — Agencies
