BARCELONA, Spain -- Cristiano Ronaldo scored his Spanish league-leading 25th goal to give Real Madrid a lacklustre 1-0 win at Malaga on Saturday, when the pacesetters extended their unbeaten run to 30 consecutive matches in all competitions. Nike Free 3.0 v4 Uomo . Diego Costa made sure Atletico Madrid stayed within three points of its crosstown rivals by scoring his 22nd league goal of the season in a 1-0 win at home over Espanyol. Ronaldo netted the winner in the 23rd minute, and a tired Madrid was fortunate Malaga failed to muster a comeback after pushing the visitors into their area for the final 10 minutes. Third-place Barcelona will enter Sundays match against Osasuna seven points behind Madrid with the two powerhouses set to clash in the Spanish capital next weekend. Madrids win was tarnished by the loss of Karim Benzema to a right thigh injury after colliding with Ronaldo in the first half. "We suffered, above all in the second half," Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso said. "They pressed us and it was tough for us to move the ball. These are three important points. There are 10 games left and we have to play each one like its the last." Elsewhere, Rayo Vallecano beat Almeria 3-1 to provisionally escape the relegation zone with a third consecutive victory, while Celta Vigo earned an entertaining 1-0 win at Levante. The opening stage of the match at La Rosaleda Stadium saw a vibrant back-and-forth exchange before Ronaldo put Madrid ahead with a wonderful solo effort. The Ballon dOr winner looked to be hemmed in by two defenders on the edge of the area, but he took three touches to his right and lashed a bouncing strike beyond goalkeeper Willy Caballero. Ronaldos goal gave him 39 goals in 36 games in all competitions this campaign. Ronaldo went close twice more shortly after, first being blocked by Caballero and then sending Gareth Bales lobbed pass into the side netting before he ran into Benzema. Benzema was treated on the sideline by team doctors before he asked to be substituted, ceding his spot to Angel Di Maria, in the 31st. Former Malaga standout Francisco "Isco" Alarcon, who joined Madrid this summer, wasted a golden chance in the 51st when he sent the ball sailing high after Di Maria set him up for a one-on-one with Caballero. Isco was applauded by his former fans when replaced by Jese Rodriguez less than 10 minutes later. Madrid, so dominant in the first half, lost control of the ball and Malaga tilted the match in its favour led by tireless forward Nordin Amrabat. But defender Sergio Sanchez blasted his teams most promising opportunity to level high in the 76th. "This team is consistent game after game," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "We are ready for the clasico." But before receiving fierce rival Barcelona, Madrid hosts Schalke on Tuesday with one foot in the Champions League quarterfinals after winning their first meeting 6-1. The first half at Vicente Calderon Stadium was ruled by the defences and featured a good save each by Atleticos Courtois Thibaut and Espanyols Kiko Casilla. Diego Costa broke through in the 55th when he received a throughball from David Villa, easily fended off Diego Colottos timid attempt to slow him down, and fired the ball past Casilla. Courtois took a hard hit to the head when Jhon Cordoba inadvertently kneed him, but the Belgian recovered and four minutes later in the 77th David Lopezs bouncing strike struck his head before falling wide of the post. "Espanyol played a great game and complicated our lives a lot," Diego Costa said. "But that just makes us stronger." Rayo won thanks to Joaquin Larriveys double after Alberto Bueno headed in the opener. Fernando Soriano scored for Almeria. Rayo rose three points above danger. Almeria was left in the drop zone along with Valladolid and Real Betis before they play on Sunday. Celta forward Manuel "Nolito" Agudo scored from a well-orchestrated counterattack in the 19th. David Barral missed a penalty for Levante in the 61st. The loss was Levantes first in seven straight home games. Both teams stayed in the middle of the standings. Nike Air Max 90 Prezzo . The Olympic hockey rookies will face top-seeded and 2006 Olympic champion Sweden on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. Kopitar, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings, is the only NHL player on the Slovenia squad. His father, Matjaz, is the national teams coach. Nike Free 5.0 Saldi . The London club made the announcement in a statement, naming the German as its new manager on an 18-month contract. While Fulhams statement failed to mention Meulensteens fate, the Dutchman later told BBC Radio 5 that he had been relieved of his duties at Fulham.ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Splitting a four-game series felt pretty good to the Texas Rangers. "You can see how everythings starting to fall on track," said Elvis Andrus, who drove in three runs in the 8-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night. "Everybodys feeling better, relaxed out there. Our pitchings doing great ... thats what were looking for." The split left the Rangers tied with the Rays for the ALs top wild-card spot. The Rangers won the season series with the Rays 4-3, earning home-field advantage should the teams finish in a tie for the two wild-card spots. They each have 10 games left. The Cleveland Indians pulled within a half-game of the leaders by beating Houston 2-1 in 11 innings. Andrus said Thursdays game was a must-win for Texas, which carried a seven-game losing streak into the series. "Yesterday (a 4-3 loss in 12 innings) was a tough loss, so to come back today and win the way we did, that was huge," he said. Yu Darvish won for the first time in seven starts since Aug. 12, surviving a 40-pitch first inning in which he hit a batter and walked three, falling behind 2-0. Darvish (13-9) made it through five innings despite walking six, throwing 109 pitches. "When he had to make a pitch, he made a pitch," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Sometimes you have to figure out ways to get things done when youre not at your very best or even at your minimal, and he did that tonight." Mitch Moreland, Andrus and Alex Rios homered off Matt Moore in the third inning to put the Rangers ahead to stay. Andrus drove in two runs with an infield single in the fourth, stretching the lead to 6-2. Craig Gentry had four of the Rangers 16 hits and three of their five stolen bases, the most against the Rays this season. "The way we ran the bases tonight, the at-bats we put together, when we start doing that throughout the lineup, thats when we play good baseball," Washington said. "In the four games here, we played ggood baseball and we won two games. Nike Air Max 90 Uomo. ." Andrus homer was his second of the series and fourth of the season, all since Aug. 4. Moreland, the only left-handed hitter in the Texas lineup, hit his 23nd long ball and Rios his 17th. Geovany Soto added his eighth home run, off Cesar Ramos in the ninth. The Rangers were down 2-1 when Moreland led off the third with long drive to left-centre. Following Ian Kinslers fly out to the warning track in left, Andrus and Rios hit consecutive home runs to left. "That was a big inning for us all the way around," Moreland said. "We hit two more after that, so three home runs in one inning definitely swung the momentum in our favour. "Darvish had to fight tonight. He kept us there and we made the most of it." Moore (15-4) gave up six runs, five earned, while striking out six in four innings. He served up three homers in a game for the first time this season after giving up only four in his 16 preceding starts. "Theres someone responsible for the damage and Im that person," Moore said. "Going into today I had a chance to keep us on top of the leader board as far as the wild card goes. Its frustrating tonight, but were back at them tomorrow." NOTES: Tim Beckham, the Rays first overall draft pick in 2008, singled as a pinch-hitter in his major league debut. ... Texas OF Nelson Cruz (suspension) has started playing games with the Rangers instructional league team in Arizona. ... Tampa Bay sent Class-A LHP Matthew Spann to Washington as the player to be named in an Aug. 23 trade in which the Rays obtained OF David DeJesus. ... Rays rookie OF Wil Myers got his first haircut since spring training, which garnered a lot of attention in the clubhouse. "He told me he paid $14 for it, and thats $14 too much," pitcher David Price said. . . . Rays RHP Jesse Crain (right shoulder strain) threw 26 pitches in an instructional league game. The Rays expect to activate him soon. cheap nfl jerseyscheap jerseys ' ' '
