Cristiano Ronaldo scored in stoppage time of the second half to give Real Madrid a 2-2 draw with Valencia in La Liga this evening, leaving them five points off the top of the table.
The home side dominated the start of the match, with Ronaldo and Karim Benzema both having efforts at goal inside the opening 10 minutes.
However, the visitors found their way into the game, resulting in Daniel Parejo almost giving Valencia the lead after 17 minutes, but his finish was kept out by the crossbar.
The hosts continued to create opportunities as half time approached, but gave away a corner just before the break when Sofiane Feghouli forced a save from Diego Lopez.
From the resulting corner, Parejo curled the ball in for Jeremy Mathieu, giving the defender a simple header for the opening goal of the night.
Real pressed hard to get back on level terms in the second half with Isco testing Diego Alves just five minutes after the restart before the Valencia stopper kept out a Ronaldo volley.
However, the hosts were able to find the back of the net just before the hour mark when Ronaldo headed the ball towards Sergio Ramos, who nodded in from close range.
The visitors were ahead again just over five minutes later, though, as Parejo slotted the ball in low from a Feghouli cross.
Alves managed to keep his side ahead as Ronaldo burst into the Valencia box looking for Real's second equaliser of the match, but the keeper was able to get down low to stop the strike.
The Portuguese had another chance with just over 10 minutes to go with a free kick from the edge of the box after Gareth Bale was fouled, but Alves continued to get the better of him.
Ronaldo eventually managed to find the target in stoppage time, firing the ball into the roof of the net to rescue a point for the hosts.
The Madrid side came close to stealing a win when Ronaldo tried to head in from an Angel di Maria cross in the closing moments of the match, but the ball went just wide.
With Atletico Madrid losing earlier today, the draw leaves Real five points behind the league leaders with a game in hand.
Sian Cowper
