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Sergio Ramos double ends Real Madrid's losing streak with Malaga win

Sergio Ramos
It was Sergio to the rescue for Real. (Reuters)

After a nine-month, 40-game winning streak was ended by back-to-back losses to Sevilla last Sunday and, more jarringly, Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, Real Madrid began a new run of victories with a 2-1 win over Malaga on Saturday.

With the win, Real consolidated its La Liga lead, staying at least a point ahead of Sevilla with a game in hand. It will be the 14th time that Real finishes top of the table in 18 rounds of matches, and the 10th in a row.

Malaga, a club of wildly swinging fortunes, lingers in a disappointing 13th place in the league, while contending with a half-dozen injuries and two players away at the Africa Cup of Nations. Yet Marcelo Romero’s team put up a fight in a thoroughly entertaining game.

Real knocked on the door early. Cristiano Ronaldo, sprung by midfield puppeteer Toni Kroos, got in one-on-one with Malaga goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. But the Cameroonian closed down the angle and denied the soft finish by the Portuguese winner of both world player of the year awards for 2016.

Then, Lucas Vazquez was away away on the right and hit a pinpoint cross to Karim Benzema. But he tried to finish with a fancy back heel, for some reason, and didn’t get enough on it. It wasn’t the first big chance the Frenchman would fail to convert on the day, also getting a series of headers and a trickier volley.

In the 16th minute, Malaga almost took an audacious lead. Chory Castro, fed cleverly by Adalberto Penaranda, turned in the box and curled a shot off the bottom of the far post with Keylor Navas well beaten.

Real was under significant pressure then, with the demanding Bernabeu grumbling about the apparent continued dip in form of the title favorites.

But in the 35th minute, Sergio Ramos scored the first of his two goals – taking the central defender to an astonishing eight in the league season, well before January is out. He broke the seal on Malaga’s goal with a smashing header from a Kroos corner into the upper 90, past the sprawling Kameni.

Before halftime, Kroos sliced in a razor-sharp free kick and Ramos slid and got a toe on it for the second. He appeared to be a shade offside, but the goal was allowed to stand.

Real Madrid would neglect to get another, with Benzema and Ronaldo both deeply frustrated at their inability to hit the net. And Malaga got back in the game to set up a tense finish.

In the 63rd minute, Juan Carlos made a run up the left and get a shot off that Navas parried into the path of Juanpi, who scored to the near post.

The closest Real would get to a third goal, which it pressed hard for, came when Kameni totally misplayed a back pass and had to slide desperately to avoid an own goal.

Because Ronaldo hit the post with a fairly routine finish.

Kameni would make amends for his near-blunder with a cat-like save on a Luka Modric shot. But at the other end, Malaga created no real chances for an equalizer.

It gave good sport, though. And Real Madrid is back on track.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.