Real Madrid moves above Valencia with win in Malaga

Real Madrid leapfrogged Valencia into third place in La Liga with a 2-1 win at relegation-bound Malaga on Sunday.

With Cristiano Ronaldo spared from domestic duties, Isco opened the scoring with a whipped free-kick into the bottom corner of Roberto's onion bag, and Casemiro doubled Los Blancos' advantage with a tap-in just over an hour into the game.

Diego Rolan reduced the deficit when he capitalised on Jesus Vallejo's missed clearance to smash into the net, but there wasn't enough time on the clock to complete an unlikely comeback and avoid the ignominy of being 14 points short of safety with six matches left.

With the victory, Zinedine Zidane is the sixth manager in Real Madrid history to reach 100 competitive wins, and he took just 140 outings to reach that milestone. Only Jose Mourinho hit a century earlier, with just 133 encounters required.

Real Madrid faces a midweek visit from Athletic Club before returning to the clear priority for the rest of this season: winning a third consecutive Champions League title. The first-leg trip to Bayern Munich is staged on April 25, with the reverse fixture following a week later.