Jose Mourinho earned his 50th victory in La Liga when Real Madrid secured a 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano, his 62nd match in the championship. The victory over Rayo Vallecano allowed Real Madrid equal their own 2009/10 record of nine victories on the road.
A brilliant heel by Cristiano Ronaldo gave the team a victory that could prove key in the outcome of the championship.
Kaka, Marcelo and Higuain made Mourinho's starting lineup and the game had an intense start, with both sides looking for their strikers with long passes. The visitors had the first chance to score through Higuain, who was unable to dribble past Joel after 17 minutes. Ronaldo also tried seven minutes later with a distance shot that missed the mark.
Diego Costa proved threatening for Real's centre backs, and Piti sent the ball pats one of the posts close to half-time.
In the second half Real soon scored from an Ozil corner-kick that was amazingly finished off by Ronaldo with a back heel - with his back to goal.
Rayo went in pursuit of a goal, leaving spaces for Real Madrid to counterattack and on once occasion Michu sent the ball off target as he faced Casillas alone. The Madrid keeper was forced to make an amazing save a couple of minutes after a spectacular long shot by Casado.
The locals had another missed Chance on the 81-minute mark and in the final minutes came close to snatch a draw when Armenteros found himself alone facing Real's goal, only to miss hit the ball.
Mourinho said afterwards: "It is easy to drop points at this stadium. Rayo did not deserve to lose. Some may say we didn't play a good game. A draw would have been a just result because Rayo were fantastic and they don't deserve people saying Real Madrid didn't play well. They deserve to hear they did a fantastic job against us. They made us work incredibly hard and had three clear chances to score. We could have sealed the match with counterattacks in the second half but didn't. The players, coaching staff and fans of Rayo Vallecano deserve to hear people say they deserved more."
"We had to defend against chances in set pieces and we fought hard to clear them. We did a very good job and fought very hard. We wouldn't have won had we not concentrated this hard in defence. We suffered on a difficult pitch. I'm happy with the score and with my men's job, but I'm intelligent enough to see Rayo didn't deserve to lose. I hope they keep up the good work because they're having a fantastic season."
"A league title is won at every venue and in every game. We had to turn the score around in Mallorca, but tonight the score was 0-0 by half-time and any side could have ended up winning the match. Our opponent never gave up. They have a coach I like very much and proved to be a difficult opponent from the bench. Sandoval took a risk using offensive players to the very end. It was a difficult and hard fought victory."
"I'm worried about how referees regard Rui Faria. He behaves the way we all do on the bench, from Karanka to Chendo. He protests with respect. I've never faced such an arrogant fourth referee in my career. He sent Rui off and will write whatever he wants on his report. It's easier to talk to people in a calm, relaxed manner than with arrogance. But nothing's the matter; others have a more positive relationship. Maybe he just happens to have an imposing personality."
"The atmosphere at the stadium was very good. There are a couple of venues with a similar atmosphere in Spain and the decision of holding a game at 16:00 suits them. I hope people behave on the street with the correctness they showed on the pitch. Michu was sent off in an effort, not due to an aggression. Everything unfolded with correctness, but I'm sad only 300 of our fans were here given that we're still in Madrid. We're leaders and only 30 people came to see us in Getafe and 300 in Vallecas. We have a shared objective with our supporters and they should give us a little more. Getafe and Vallecas are very close to home."