Barcelona: Karim Benzema scored twice to lead Real Madrid to a 3-1 win at Racing Santander on Sunday as the Spanish giants stayed within seven points of Spanish league leader Barcelona.
With leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo out with an injury, Madrid turned to German playmaker Mesut Oezil to steer the attack with Benzema and Emmanuel Adebayor playing together as strikers for the first time.
Oezil responded with a pair of beautiful assists for Adebayor in the 23rd minute and Benzema in the 27th as Madrid dominated early on.
After a toothless first half from Racing, Kennedy Bakircioglu grabbed one back for the hosts in the 70th. But Benzema scored his seventh goal of the season five minutes later to seal the victory.
Despite his team's impressive performance, Madrid coach Jose Mourinho did not see Barcelona relinquishing its hold on the league with 11 weeks to go.
"I don't expect Barcelona to slip up," he said. "I play my league and try to win the most games I can."
Mourinho's team had recently struggled away from Santiago Bernabeu stadium, having won once in its previous four outings. But Madrid had little trouble handing Racing its first loss in seven weeks under new owner Ahsan Ali Syed and new coach Marcelino Garcia Toral.
The woodwork and some inspired goalkeeping by Antonio "Tono" Rodriguez saved Racing from a rout in the first half as Madrid barely let its opponents touch the ball.
Xabi Alonso hit the crossbar with a long free kick in the 13th and Tono stretched to deflect wide what appeared to be a sure goal by Marcelo after Angel Di Maria had played the Brazilian left back through.
Two minutes after Benzema had rattled the crossbar with a long strike, Oezil combined with his strikers before leaving Adebayor with an open goal to fire into.
It was Benzema's turn four minutes later, Oezil playing him through with an exquisite side-footed pass for the France striker to fire under Tono to double Madrid's lead.
"We played well and immediately had great chances with balls hitting the crossbar. The rival felt they had few chances," said Mourinho. "We were always ahead and the team was comfortable on the pitch."
Racing wasted a chance to halve the deficit when Giovani Dos Santos dribbled into the area and was brought down by Xabi Alonso but Iker Casillas blocked Pablo Pinillos' poor spot kick in the 53rd.
Kennedy made it 2-1 with a left-footed strike from inside the area after his team's best buildup of the contest but Benzema scored Madrid's third with a well-placed strike off a pass from Di Maria to crush any thoughts of a comeback.
"I felt better than before. I am going to work hard to play like I did today," said Benzema, who is coming into form after a lackluster first half of the season. "I am another player now that I feel good physically and in my head."
Tono saved a penalty by Adebayor in the 85th after Marc Torrejon had fouled Di Maria in the area.
Even though his team did not seem to miss Ronaldo on the pitch, midfielder Esteban Granero said the Portuguese forward is still the team's leader.
"With Cristiano, we would have played better, for sure," said Granero. "He is the No. 1 and makes the difference."
Earlier, Athletic Bilbao moved into the Europa League positions after beating Sevilla 2-0.
After a dull first half at San Mames stadium, the Basques went ahead when Sevilla defender Federico Fazio accidentally redirected a cross from Bilbao's Koikili Lertxundi into his own goal in the 66th minute.
Andoni Iraola made it 2-0 in the 88th from the penalty spot after Sevilla's Julien Escude had fouled Oscar de Marcos in the area.
Bilbao's victory ended a streak of four straight losses and took the team past Espanyol into fifth place.
"In the first half they had chances and in the second half we had the luck we have lacked in other occasions," said Bilbao coach Joaquin Caparros. "We are happy to have broken the losing streak."
Sevilla's Luis Fabiano left with an apparent leg injury after his team fell behind.
Also, Sporting Gijon moved out of the relegation zone after beating Getafe 2-0, Felipe Caicedo gave Levante a 1-0 win over Espanyol and Almeria came from behind to beat Hercules 2-1.
Osasuna downed last-place Malaga 1-0 from a goal by Sergio Fernandez in injury time for his team's first away win in 13 months.
Real Sociedad is at Deportivo La Coruna on Monday to close the 27th round.
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