Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice in La Liga win

Cristiano Ronaldo sealed a hard-fought victory for La Liga leaders Real Madrid as they saw off an impressive Sporting Gijon side to win 2-1 at the Bernabeu on Saturday.

Two early goals from the Portuguese gave the hosts what looked to be a comfortable lead, but it was anything but a dominant performance from Zinedine Zindane's men, who lacked their usual quality in both attack and defence.

And Los Blancos, who felt the absence of the injured Gareth Bale, made it all too easy for Sporting - who currently sit in 18th spot in the La Liga table - when they allowed Carlos Carmona acres of space to fire home and pull one back for his side before the interval.

The visitors had the perfect chance to equalise when they were awarded a late penalty after Nacho brought down Rodriguez Victor but it was an opportunity wasted when Duje Cop fired his spot-kick way into the stands to spare Real's blushes, ahead of their visit to Camp Nou in next week's El Clasico.

Real opened the scoring after five minutes when Isma Lopez sent Lucas Vazquez to ground to concede a penalty which Ronaldo made no mistake with, smashing his spot-kick into the bottom right of the net with his ninth league goal of the season.

His second came just 13 minutes later when he met a brilliant Nacho cross in from the left with a superb bullet header to double Real's advantage and leave Sporting with what appeared to be a mountain to climb with less than 20 minutes played.

But the visitors responded well, creating chances as they showed a great willingness to get forward and pull one back.

And their persistence paid off when Carmona weaved his way into a great position to meet an inviting pass from Lopez, angling the ball past Jesus Navas with the outside of his right foot to bring his side back into the game in the 36th minute.

It was Sporting who created the lion's share of chances during the second-half, limiting Real's threat in attack as the hosts struggled to create chances in the final third.

But it wasn't to be for Abelardo Fernandez's men, as Real held on to take all three points.