CRISTIANO RONALDO continued his latest scoring run with two goals as Real Madrid beat Eibar 2-1 in the Spanish league on Saturday.

After a slow start to the season, Ronaldo has netted 13 goals in his last seven appearances to take his total to 33 in 34 games in all competitions. That is one more score than Barcelona rival Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo put Madrid ahead in the 34th minute after Luka Modric intercepted a ball from defender Aritz Arbilla and placed a perfect pass for the Portugal forward to control with his chest and fire in.

Eibar equalized in the 50th when defender Ivan Ramis broke free of Sergio Ramos to head home a corner kick by Pedro Leon. Ramis needed to be substituted shortly after because of the lingering effects of a knee injury he appeared to suffer near the end of the first half.

Ronaldo had two more excellent chances — on either side of Ramis’ equalizer — to grab another goal but was denied by superb one-handed saves from goalkeeper Marco Dmitrovic.

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane sent on Karim Benzema and Lucas Vazquez to look for the winner.

But it was right back Dani Carvajal who intercepted a pass by Leon and crossed for Ronaldo to head in his second goal with six minutes remaining.

Madrid remained third, 12 points behind leader Barcelona, which beat Malaga 2-0 Saturday. Lionel Messi missed the match to attend the birth of his third son. The Argentina forward later announced his wife gave birth to a boy named Ciro.

Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho scored for Barcelona before Malaga lost Samuel Garcia to a direct red card for a rash studs-first tackle into the foot of Jordi Alba on the half-hour mark.

(SD-Agencies)