Real Madrid 2-0 Osasuna
Real Madrid kept their title hopes alive with a 2-0 victory over Osasuna on Saturday evening.
Los Blancos made four changes from their 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League semi-final first-leg, as Eden Hazard made his first start since returning from injury alongside rare starts for Alvaro Odriozola, Antonio Blanco and a return for Marco Asensio.
After a quiet start, Manuel Sanchez came the closest to breaking the deadlock for Osasuna in the 22nd minute with a cross at the near post that took a nasty deflection but goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois back-tracked in time to parry the effort over the bar.
Zinedine Zidane's charges were fired up after that as Hazard was unlucky not to give them the lead in the 25th minute after seeing his strike tipped over the bar by shot-stopper Sergio Herrera, who did well to keep out Eder Militao's powerful header minutes later.
Madrid had a scare on the stroke of half-time after Chimy Avila found the back of the net for Osasuna with a glancing header from Sanchez's cross after a counter-attack but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Militao had a chance to break the deadlock for the hosts just before the hour-mark with a spectacular volley unmarked at the back post that sailed over the bar after a free-kick by Asensio.
Militao finally broke the deadlock for Madrid in the last 14 minutes with a thumping header in a crowded area towards the far post after a corner by Isco.
Casemiro quickly doubled the lead for Los Blancos four minutes later after his heavy touch from Karim Benzema's through ball wrong-footed Herrera and found the bottom corner.
The two goals were enough for Zidane's men to secure the spoils that saw them keep pressure on leaders Atletico, still two points adrift in second place.
Elche 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid cemented top spot in LaLiga with a narrow 1-0 win over Elche on Saturday evening.
Nothing but five changes from Atletico showed off the back of their loss to Athletic Bilbao, with Mario Hermoso, Jose Gimenez, Thomas Lemar, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Luis Suarez called in.
Atleti were desperate to hit the ground running 16 minutes in and it seemed just that through a simple finish from Suarez off a cutback from Marcos Llorente, but the flag went up for offside.
However, the league leaders had to wait just seven minutes for the breakthrough as Llorente drilled a first-time volley past goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga from an unmarked position in the six-yard area.
Elche struggled to hold ground on the stroke of halftime and seemed to have given away a penalty from an arm used by Diego Gonzalez off a shot by Angel Correa, but it was overturned by VAR.
The away side made a strong start to the early stages of the second half and were close to a second from a shot on the left-side of the area by Suarez, but he nestled the side-netting.
Suarez was denied by the offside flag yet again in the midway spell of the second stanza following a smart tap-in from a ball by Correa with the initial work from Kieran Trippier.
Atleti added fresh faces eight minutes from time, with Suarez making way for Saul Niguez however they weren't able to add to their tally although the 1-0 win cemented top spot for another match day.
Click through the gallery below to see highest-paid stars in LaLiga!
