Ronaldos brace rescues Madrid in Eibar
News & Trends •
zinedine zidane had insisted the success in paris was now forgotten and his starting line-up suggested as much with karim benzema the only key player rested1 cristiano ronaldo came to the rescue again as real madrid followed up their thumping win over paris saint-germain with a narrow victory against eibar1 his double means ronaldo has now scored in seven consecutive games and has a remarkable 13 goals overall in that period1 real move four points behind second-placed atletico madrid who will restore that gap to seven with a win over celta vigo on sunday. eibar stay eighth1 after securing a 5-2 aggregate victory over paris saint-germain on tuesday real swapped the parc des princes for the ipurua municipal stadium the smallest in la liga with a capacity of just over 70001 they were below their best and rode their luck late on when eibar should have converted a pair of excellent chances1 but ronaldo proved the difference again the 33-year-old taking his tally for the season to 35 goals in 37 appearances1 ronaldo scored twice his second six minutes from the end as real won 2-1 and avoided another slip-up in la liga. ivan ramis had equalised for eibar shortly after half-time1 gareth bale started up front alongside ronaldo while luka modric and toni kroos fit enough only to come off the bench in midweek returned1 isco and casemiro formed the top and tail of a midfield diamond1 real were ragged early on as takashi inui kike garcia and joan jordan all went close to giving eibar the lead1 raphael varane had to be replaced by nacho after taking a bang to the head and against the run of play real edged ahead in the 33rd minute1 a sloppy pass out from the back by anaitz arbilla conceded possession to luka modric who quickly picked out ronaldo with a sublime bending pass. ronaldo chested the ball down and slammed it in at the near post1 in front real improved but five minutes into the second half and eibar were level. sergio ramos lost his man at a corner and ramis nodded in from six yards1