Real Madrid managed to overcome a stubborn Athletic Bilbao 3-1 to maintain their title pursuit in LaLiga on Tuesday evening.
A solitary switch from Los Blancos from the win over Atletico Madrid saw Federico Valverde filling the spot of Carlos Casemiro, who missed out through suspension.
Athletic were given a baptism of fire in the first 13 minutes after Raul Garcia received a red card for a second bookable offence following a foul on Toni Kroos.
Thereafter, Real missed two clear openings to hit the front foot through a close-range strike from Karim Benzema followed by a wayward attempt from Valverde.
Los Blancos caused further issues four minutes before halftime as a floating cross from Luka Modric met a lurking Vinicius Junior in the area, but Unai Simon came up with the goods.
Real eventually broke the deadlock in the last minute of the first half when Kroos ran onto a loose pass to fire past a scrambling Simon from outside the six-yard area.
Scroll through the gallery below to see Europe's most expensive squads
Bilbao hit back seven minutes into the second half when Ander Capa needed two attempts from close-range to turn in a rebound following a cross into the centre of the area.
Zinedine Zidane looked to the substitutes' bench to regain the lead and instituted two changes in Isco, who replaced Valverde while Vinicus made way for Marco Asensio.
Los Blancos began piling the pressure and regained the lead on 75 minutes when a cross from Dani Carvajal found Benzema, who applied a pin-point header beyond Simon.
The Frenchman made the points safe at the end after collecting a pass from Modric in his stride to find a bottom-corner seconds before Thibaut Courtois pulled off a thumping save.