Jose Mourinho’s side were hoping to take advantage of Malaga’s early slip up and beat Zaragoza to take third place in La Liga and goals from Gonzalo Higuain, Angel di Maria, Michael Essien and Luka Modric made sure of that.

The away side began brightly with Apono crossing in for Helder Postiga but Pepe was on hand to clear the early threat from Manolo Jimenez’s side.

Moments later and the best chance of the opening 20 minutes fell to Cristiano Ronaldo but the prolific winger headed wide of the target following good work from Di Maria.

However, Real only had to wait three minutes until they did break the deadlock and it was Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain who netted from close range to continue his fine run of form.

Then in a two-minute moment of madness, Di Maria scored a second from a tight angle leaving the Zaragoza defenders confused as to what had just happened.

Despite the two-goal advantage however, Real were then forced to play on the back foot as Zaragoza tried to get back in the match.

Helder Postiga came close on the hour mark before Jose Mari crashed an effort off the crossbar.

The away side did have the ball in the back of the net through Postiga but the Portuguese international was flagged for offside.

Real then had chances towards the final whistle to extend their lead as a tired Zaragoza looked dead and buried and it was Michael Essien who scored his first goal for the club in stoppage time.

Luka Modric then added a fourth in a result that flattered Mourinho’s men to say the least but one that moves them up to third place and hot on the heels of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

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