Real Madrid beat Celta Vigo 4-2 on Sunday night in an entertaining encounter at Balaidos to reduce the gap at the top of La Liga to two points.
Real fell behind early to a Nolito goal but goals from Toni Kroos and Javier Hernandez saw them take a 2-1 lead midway through the second half. Santi Mina equalised for Celta but goals from James Rodriguez and Hernandez's second secured the points for Carlo Ancelotti's side.
Celta made a flying start and took the game straight to Real but their defence held firm against the initial onslaught and Real began to take control of the game.
However, on nine minutes Celta took the lead through a superb piece of counter attacking football. Jonny cleared the ball to Fabian Orellana who carried the ball sixty yards before passing to Nolito on the left wing. The Spaniard ran at Real and managed to cut in between Dani Carvajal and Kroos before slotting his shot into Iker Casillas' near post with the goalkeeper caught flat footed.
Celta were unable to hold the lead for long and Real equalised six minutes later. Cristiano Ronaldo got behind the Celta defence on the right side and tried to cross but the defender took it away from Marcelo who was about to tap it in. However, he could only clear it as far as Kroos and the German was able to sidefoot his shot into the net from the edge of the box to bring Real level.
Real took the lead on 24 minutes with a goal from the hero in midweek, Hernandez. Hernandez linked up superbly with James and the pair exchanged four passes to create the opening and Hernandez finished it superbly by putting his shot through the leagues of the onrushing Sergio Alvarez.
Four minutes later and the scores were level once again. Nineteen year old, Santi Mina was played in one on one with Casillas and the youngster tried to beat the goalkeeper with a left footed shot that hit the post. Fortunately for Celta the rebound came back to Mina and he was able to blast into the empty goal.
Celta could have took the lead on 39 minutes after some good work from Joaquin Larrivey. He ran onto a pass and took a sublime touch with the outside of his foot but he was unable to make a clean connection with his shot and Casillas made a comfortable save.
Real had a chance of their own to go ahead just two minutes later when James found Hernandez with a long pass over the top. The Mexican took it down on his chest before putting Ronaldo one on one but unfortunately for the visitors the Portuguese superstar's shot hit the post before being cleared by a defender.
On 43 minutes Real did go back in front. Michael Krohn-Dehli was caught in possession by Isco who found Ronaldo. Ronaldo passed to James who took two touches before hitting a left footed shot that took a massive deflection off Andreu Fontas before finding the bottom corner of the net with Sergio going the other way.
Celta did have enough time left in the first half to create one more chance when Nolito played a pass into Larrivey but Sergio Ramos made a superb block to deny the Argentine just as he was about to get his shot off.
That was the final opportunity of what had been an extremely open and entertaining first half and Real went into the dressing room with a 3-2 lead.
The second half continued in much the same fashion as the first with both sides going forward in search of goals and Celta felt they should have had a penalty on 57 minutes when Orellana went down under pressure from Kroos. There was definitely contact but Orellana may have gone down too easy and the referee waved play on.
Celta were enjoying a lot of possession and they were causing the Real defence all sorts of problems with Nolito in particular proving troublesome for the European champions.
However, Real were still dangerous on the counter and they went 4-2 up on 69 minutes. Ramos played a beautiful ball over the top to Hernandez and the in form Mexican took a touch before blasting past Sergio for his fourth goal in four games.
Nolito almost set up a grandstand finish late on when he cut inside from the left wing before firing a vicious shot that went just wide of Casillas' left hand post.
That was to be last chance of the game and despite a very good performance from the hosts they lost 4-2 to a Real Madrid side who weren't at their best but who were clinical in front of goal when their chances arrived.
Both sides will now move on to midweek matches with Celta hosting Malaga and Real taking on Almeria at the Bernabeu.