Internet Desk: Cometh the hour, cometh the man. It was evident once again for Real Madrid as Sergio Ramos bailed his team out with a late strike. The leaders maintained their six points lead on top of La Liga with a thrilling 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruna.
Real Madrid captain rose to the call as he powered home another stoppage time winner to help Real come from behind and set a new club record by stretching their unbeaten run to 35 games in all competitions.
Ramos also bailed out coach Zinedine Zidane’s decision to rest his top three goal scorers Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema ahead of Real’s trip to the Club World Cup in Japan this week.
Alvaro Morata’s stunning strike from 25 yards opened the scoring early in the second-half.
However, the game swung Deportivo’s way as on-loan Stoke forward Joselu struck twice in two minutes.
Youngster Mariano was summoned from the bench and continued his impressive form after a recent Copa del Rey hat-trick with a looping header into the far corner.
And with five minutes added on it was inevitable that just a week on from a stoppage time equaliser at the Camp Nou, Ramos would once again power home the winner for his side.
In another La Liga match Lionel Messi scored twice in the second half to lead Barcelona past Osasuna 3-0, ending a run of three consecutive draws for the defending Spanish league champions on Saturday.
Barcelona’s first win in four rounds came a week after it drew at home with league leader Real Madrid.
Messi unlocked the hosts’ defence in the 59th minute by threading a pass between four defenders to meet Jordi Alba’s run into the area. The left back squared the ball for Luis Suarez to tap home.
In similar fashion, Alba set up Messi to side-foot in his first goal in the 73rd after substitute Denis Suarez played Alba clear.
Messi got his second goal in stoppage time, when he took on three defenders, picked his spot and rifled home a left-footed strike.
Messi went to the top of the league scoring table with 11 goals. Suarez pulled level with Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo with 10.