Real Madrid and BBVA Primera Liga leaders both won on Spain's matchday 26 to maintain their personal duel at the top of the league table.

Barcelona had opened up a 10 point lead with their 1-0 win in Valencia on Wednesday night, but 24 hours later Madrid enjoyed an easy triumph over a struggling Malaga to leave the gap at seven points once again.

The return of former Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium was the big talking point of the game, but it soon became clear that the game itself was going to be straightforward for the home side.

Despite Madrid coach Jose Mourinho's recent complaints about the fixture calendar, Malaga had two days less to prepare the game than Madrid and looked sluggish on the pitch.

Karim Benzema opened the score just before the half hour and Angel Di Maria doubled Madrid's lead after a horrible error from the Malaga defense, before Marcelo Vieira finished off a team move to make it 3-0 before the break.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal in almost 500 minutes to make it 4-0 shortly after the break. Benzema added his second with a header and Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot after an action that also saw Malaga's Manuel Gaspar sent off.

They were down to nine minutes later when Cala left the pitch injured with no substitutes to bring on an after 76 minutes Cristiano Ronaldo completed his hat-trick to make it 7-0. He then immediately left the pitch raising worries that he could have picked up an injury.

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