Ramos scored twice, Real restored winning habit

Center-back Sergio Ramos scored both goals for Real Madrid in their 2-1 win over Malaga in round 19 of La Liga.

Goals: Ramos 35', 43' - Juanpi 64'

Ramos showed his talent to decide the fate of the match when he launched a powerful header to open the score in the 35th minute. Eight minutes later, the center-back shone again: tapping the ball in at the right time to double the gap.

Thanks to Ramos' double, Real took all three points in the match against Malaga. The visitors only got a consolation goal thanks to Juanpi's shot into the top corner.

Ramos (number 4) jumped high to open the score for Real. Photo: Reuters

After two consecutive defeats, Real desperately needed a win when hosting Malaga. With that mentality, the home team did not start very well. Ronaldo and Benzema soon showed signs of being impatient to finish in front of the Malaga goal, while goalkeeper Navas almost had to pick the ball out of the net after Gonzalo Castro's shot hit the post.

In a game of five wins and five losses, Ramos emerged with an extremely important role. This center-back scored both goals against goalkeeper Carlos Kameni, at the same time leading Real to victory.

The remarkable thing about Ramos’s two goals was that they both came from set pieces. The first was the result of a header from a corner, the second an indirect free kick from outside the box. The double not only erased the own goal he had conceded in last week’s defeat to Sevilla, but also reaffirmed Ramos as the best set piece player in the world today.

Ramos cushioned the ball with his right foot to increase the score to 2-0.

In contrast to the captain's brilliant form, Ronaldo was once again the player who missed the most chances for Real. In the three most dangerous situations, the striker shot into goalkeeper Kameni's hands in a one-on-one situation, hit the post and bounced out, and shot diagonally and was pushed out. In addition to the missed shots, Ronaldo also had many situations where he lacked coordination with his teammates. As a result, after the match, Goal rated Ronaldo's performance 2.5/5.

While Real's attack lacked sharpness, Malaga had more possession from the start of the second half. The team also deployed many attacking situations and took advantage of one of them. In the 64th minute, after Castro's shot, Juanpi received the ball that bounced off goalkeeper Navas and shot into the top corner to reduce the score.

If they had attacked more carefully and variedly in the final minutes of the match, Malaga could have even drawn. Goalkeeper Navas had to jump to push the ball away in Real's penalty area at least once more.

Ronaldo regretted after missing the chance to face the goalkeeper.

Thanks to the win over Malaga, Real widened the gap with Sevilla to four points and Barca to five points. Sevilla and Barca can shorten the gap again if they win against Osasuna and Eibar in the series of matches on the evening of January 22.

According to VNE