It could have been a glorious night for Cristiano Ronaldo as his brace helped Real Madrid defeat Malaga 2-0. However, the red card which he sustained twenty minutes from time tarnished his achievement.

Real Madrid went into Sunday’s La Liga match eight points behind the leaders Barcelona.

This meant that they had no option but to beat Malaga at the Santiago Bernabeu in order not to wave an early goodbye in the title race.

Los Blancos held their 100% record at home ahead of the clash and they were expected to deal with Malaga’s resilience. Actually, Sunday’s visitors were on a run of nine matches undefeated; one of those included a 2-2 draw away to Sevilla.

Fortunately enough for Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo saved them from troubles by scoring two goals within three minutes.

The first one saw him finishing up Kaka’s low cross in the penalty box after 36 minutes, but the second one was more brilliant. Ronaldo received a pass from veteran midfielder Guti and he made no mistake in firing the ball in the top corner of the net.

Malaga’s keeper had no option but to let the ball fly above him as Cristiano Ronaldo completed his perfect brace.

So Real Madrid headed into the dressing rooms 2-0 up and ended the night with the same score line as well. But before the referee had blown the final whistle, Cristiano Ronaldo was no more on the pitch.

The Portuguese superstar picked up a red card at the 70th minute after elbowing Malaga’s Mtiliga. The victim was left with blood but Cristiano Ronaldo insisted that he had no intentions to hurt him.

He explained after the incident:

“I’m very disappointed about what happened because I’m not a bad person.

“Anyone who plays football will know that my intention was not to hurt him [Mtiliga], but to defend myself from his grab.

“I did not want to hurt him. ”

So Cristiano Ronaldo fans will have to wait and see the extent of CR9’s ban after seeing a straight card. As for Real Madrid, supporters will hope that Ronaldo’s absence doesn’t affect them too much.

Angela Asante, Cristiano Ronaldo Fan Editor