MADRID, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid moved to the top of the BBVA Primera Liga on Saturday night as a combination of fine goalkeeping from Keylor Navas and goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and both full backs gave them a 3-1 win away to Celta Vigo.
The game between the top two sides in La Liga had promised to be at thriller and it was as Cristiano Ronaldo soon put Real Madrid ahead after good work by Lucas Vazquez down the Madrid left.
It was soon to be 2-0 as Danilo doubled their lead with an assured finish as he found space on the overlap.
Celta could never have expected to be two-down after just 20 minutes and as good sides do, they responded with pride, launching a wave of attacks, only for Navas, who made six outstanding saves, to break the hearts of their forward, leaving Nolito, Orellana and Iago Aspes all frustrated as he parried their goal-bound efforts.
Celta's task got a lot harder when referee Clos Gomez sent off Celta defender Diego Cabral for complaining with 35-minutes left to play, but rather than allow Madrid to dominate the home side continued to press forward against a rival that was perhaps too willing to soak up the pressure.
Rafael Benitez has, perhaps unfairly, been accused of being too conservative and his side almost paid for their understandable second half lack of ambition given Wednesday's testing Champions League tie in Paris, when Nolito finally beat Navas with just five minutes remaining.
For a few minutes a miracle looked possible but Marcelo broke Celta hearts when he netted Madrid's final goal in the fifth minute of injury time.
Celta can take some pride, but Real Madrid will take three vital points back to the capital.