Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid stunned bitter rival Atletico Madrid, 3-0, at the Vicente Calderon Stadium moving four points ahead of eternal rival FC Barcelona at La Liga table.
Atletico showed their defensive prowess at the start of the game preventing the Los Blancos to set up their offense. The Rojiblancos played with much more urgency, pinning their opponents at back, but they could not set up effective offense against the classic 4-4-2 formation of Real.
Real Madrid broke the scoring drought at the 23' when Ronaldo's free-kick ball squeezed off Stefan Savic and find the corner of the net.
Real gained a penalty at 71' when Savic attempted to clear the ball but hit the foot of the Portuguese striker just as he sprinted toward the box. Ronaldo completed his hat-trick six minutes later with a simple finish after being set up by Gareth Bale.
Zinedine Zidane last league defeat came against Atletico at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, but since February 27, Real have not felt the losing feeling in the league.
Meantime, FC Barcelona was held to a goalless draw at Camp Nou against the nine-man Malaga as the La Liga champions played without talisman Lionel Messi and striker Luis Suarez.
Messi was ill and vomiting few hours before the game, while the Uruguayan striker is serving a suspension after picking up his fifth booking this season. Andres Iniesta is still out for injury.
But the weak Barcelona roster, with Neymar pushing on attack after attack, was equalized by Malaga's two red cards from defender Diego Llorente and midfielder Juankar.
But the outnumbered visiting team prevented the heavily favored Catalans from finding the corner of the net at the end of the 90' in regulation.
Barcelona dominated the game with 76 percent ball possession, 13 free kicks, 14 corners, and eight shots on target. But the Neymar-led team failed to convert a score throughout the game against the conservative 5-4-1 formation of Malaga.
