Gareth Bale made up for the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, scoring late in Real Madrid's 1-0 win at Real Sociedad on Saturday to keep alive his team's hopes of winning the Spanish league.
Bale scored with a firm header after a well-placed cross by lucas Vazquez in the 80th minute, giving Madrid its 10th-straight league win and putting pressure on Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Zinedine Zidane's team took the provisional lead with 84 points, two more than Barcelona and Atletico. There are two rounds left after this weekend.
Madrid was without Ronaldo and Benzema because of hamstring injuries ahead of Wednesday's Champions league semifinal against Manchester City. The first leg was 0-0 in England.
Real Madrid dominated from the start at Anoeta Stadium but had difficulties getting past Sociedad's Argentine goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
Bale had already missed a few good opportunities before finally scoring the winner in the northeastern city of San Sebastian. His best chance had been in the 57th, when he got to a loose ball inside the area but had his low shot from near the penalty spot blocked by Rulli.
Bale finally broke through by jumping high over a defender to meet Vazquez's cross from the right side, sending the ball into the upper corner.
Newcastle bag crucial win
lONDON: Newcastle has moved out of the English Premier league relegation zone - for at least a couple of hours - after midfielder Andros Townsend's superb free kick gave the Magpies a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Newcastle is in 17th place on 33 points, immediately above Sunderland on 32 points. The Black Cats drew 1-1 against Stoke and have a game in hand over Newcastle. Norwich is provisionally in 19th place on 31 points.
At the other end, West Ham won 3-0 at West Bromwich Albion with two goals from Mark Noble to provisionally go fifth.
Elsewhere, a last-minute Jermaine Defoe penalty rescued a valuable point for Sunderland in drawing with Stoke 1-1.
Sunderland remains in 18th place, one point behind Newcastle but with a game in hand. Stoke is ninth.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa was condemned to a club-record 11th consecutive loss when Watford scored two late goals to win 3-2 at home.