Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace to give Real Madrid a hard-fought 3-2 win at Real Betis on Saturday, setting a club record 10th straight away victory in Jose Mourinho's 100th game at the helm of the runaway Spanish league leader.
The win kept Madrid on course for its first league title in four seasons as it extended its advantage to 13 points over Barcelona ahead of the defending champions' game at slumping Racing Santander on Sunday.
After Jorge Molina had opened the scoring for Betis, Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain leveled and Ronaldo put the visitors in front just after halftime.
Betis forward Jefferson Montero quickly scored to make it 2-2, but Ronaldo fired in a rebound for the 73rd-minute winner to secure Madrid its 11th consecutive win.
''It was a difficult game, but we knew what we were going to face here,'' Higuain said. ''Fortunately, we were able to win and maintain our 10-point lead.''
Earlier on Saturday, Malaga took hold of Spain's last Champions League spot through a 1-0 win over Levante thanks to Jose Rondon's second-half header.
Ronaldo, who reached 40 goals in all competitions, also stayed on pace to break his own league record of 40 goals from last season by taking his tally to 32 goals with 12 games to play.
Higuain got another nod in strike with Karim Benzema just back from injury resting on the bench with Madrid set to play CSKA Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday.
After goalkeeper Fabricio Agosto had parried Ronaldo's early attempt, Betis grabbed a surprising lead after 10 minutes.
Molina charged through the area to volley strike partner Ruben Castro's pass into the upper left corner of the net and finish off a lightening counterattack that caught Madrid off balance.
But Mourinho urged his side to remain calm from the sideline, and sure enough Higuain leveled for Madrid with a brilliant individual effort in the 25th to silence the crowd in Seville.
The Argentina striker ran onto Mesut Oezil's long pass and held off his marker before firing a right-footed blast beyond Agosto to take his league scoring tally to 17- a distant third best behind Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi (28).
Betis midfielder Salva Sevilla drew a diving one-handed save from Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas to tip his dipping free kick off the crossbar moments in the 41st before Fabricio denied Ronaldo one-on-one inside his area.
The hosts came out of halftime looking to carry the weight of the attack, but Ronaldo instead netted for Madrid in the 52nd.
Marcelo tapped on Kaka's deflected cross for the unmarked Ronaldo to knock home and extend his scoring run to six straight games.
Betis responded just three minutes later when Montero blasted in a poor clearance by Alvaro Arbeloa off a corner to quickly even the score at 2-2.
Casillas saved Madrid from falling behind again shortly after with back-to-back blocks, and Ronaldo was again in the right place at the right time to fire in a rebound of a Sergio Ramos header that Fabricio had saved but failed to punch out of his area.
Benzema came on for the final minutes after missing the last two games and international duty due to injury.
Betis clamored for a penalty in vain in the dying moments when it appeared that Ramos blocked a goal-bound strike with his arm.
