Zinedine Zidane's men could ill-afford another loss after Barcelona went 11 points clear of them by beating Sevilla 2-1 on Saturday, but they rarely looked in trouble, showing a significant improvement from their Champions League loss to Spurs on Wednesday.
Madrid spent much of the first half on the front foot and created a host of chances, with Karim Benzema wasting a glorious opportunity early on and Cristiano Ronaldo - who endured another frustrating day in front of goal in LaLiga - going on to hit the post.
