Cristiano Ronaldo rescued Real Madrid again, scoring an astonishing hat-trick in a 4-1 comeback at fifth-place Mallorca.
Their fifth consecutive win keeps Real just one point behind leaders Barcelona.
The twin giants have smashed the all-time Spanish points record: Barca have 93 points, Real have 92.
“It was a great night for us,” said Ronaldo, “the merit corresponds to the entire team, not just to me. We just have to carry on winning and hope that Barca drop points in Sevilla.”
Barca are at fourth-place Sevilla on Saturday before finishing on May 15 at home to lowly Valladolid. Real are at home Saturday to Athletic Bilbao before finish at troubled Malaga.
Aritz Aduriz headed Mallorca into the lead in the 16th minute, after the Real defence had failed to clear a corner. But 10 minutes later Ronaldo made it 1-1 by getting on the end of a diagonal ball from Sergio Ramos and beating keeper Dudu Aouate with a high lob.
His Real counterpart, Iker Casillas, had to pull off three sharp saves in the first half with Mallorca breaking through at will.
The whites took control after the interval and pulled apart a slow Mallorca defence.
In the 58th minute, Ronaldo made it 2-1 after taking another cross from Sergio Ramos on his chest and scoring with a toe-poke.
The Portuguese megastar completed his hat-trick 15 minutes later with the best goal of the night. He received the ball on the left, powered past four defenders and made it 3-1 with a precise, low drive.
Gonzalo Higuain made it 4-1 with an audacious lob as Mallorca lost heart and spirit.
Higuain has scored 26 league goals, one more than Ronaldo, but five less than Barca’s Lionel Messi.
