Real Madrid opened a three-point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga when Cristiano Ronaldo scored his eighth goal of the campaign in a 3-1 victory at home to promoted Las Palmas Saturday. Unbeaten Real, which was missing several injured regulars including Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez for the clash at the Bernabeu, has 24 points from 10 matches. Las Palmas are back in Spain's top flight after a 13-year absence and initially appeared to be heading for a similar drubbing to the one they received the last time they played at Real — a 7-0 defeat in February 2002 when Fernando Morientes hit five goals. Isco raced on to a Casemiro pass and finished clinically past Las Palmas goalkeeper Javi Varas to make it 1-0 in the fourth minute. Ronaldo was given room to head in Marcelo's cross 10 minutes later. The Canary Islands club managed to create some chances of its own, however, and midfielder Hernan Santana scored with a header from a corner in the 38th minute. It was the first goal Real has conceded at home in five La Liga outings this term but it restored its two-goal advantage five minutes later when Jese cut in from the left and cracked the ball past Varas. Real comfortably controlled the game in the second half, content to save energy for Tuesday's Champions League Group A match at home to French champion Paris St Germain, before Ronaldo was denied a second goal by a brilliant Varas block at the death. Celta Vigo has 18 points in fourth. Dortmund closes in on Bayern Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus scored twice in a 3-1 victory at Werder Bremen Saturday that allowed his team to close to within five points of Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich. Reus, back in top form after an injury-hit season start, struck twice for the second consecutive week. Dortmund is in second place on 26 points, five behind Bayern. Borussia Moenchengladbach's sensational recovery continued with a 4-1 victory at Hertha Berlin for its sixth consecutive victory under interim coach Andre Schubert after it lost the first five matches of the competition. Third-placed Schalke 04 stumbled to a 1-1 draw against promoted Ingolstadt to drop six points behind Dortmund, having won just one of their last four matches. — Agencies
