Zinedine Zidane's confidence in Cristiano Ronaldo proved to be fully justified as the Portugal star netted a hat-trick in Real Madrid's 4-1 defeat of Alaves.
The Madrid coach backed Ronaldo as the "clear" front-runner for the Ballon d'Or this week despite a run of one goal in his last five league games, and he led the way in Vitoria as the pacesetters came from behind to win comfortably.
Deyverson, who also scored against Barcelona in September, exploited dreadful Madrid defending to give Alaves the early breakthrough, but he was culpable for the equaliser, conceding a penalty which Ronaldo thrashed home.
Ronaldo, rested for Wednesday's 7-1 Copa del Rey win at Cultural Leonesa, was decisive again just after the half-hour mark as he found the net from long range thanks to a kind deflection.
Although Fernando Pacheco saved a second Ronaldo penalty, the visitors ramped up the pressure in the latter stages - substitute Alvaro Morata scoring a cool third.
And Ronaldo then bounced back from his spot-kick miss with an emphatic finish, as Madrid took full advantage of Sevilla's earlier 1-1 slip-up at Sporting Gijon to go three points clear at the top for at least a couple of hours.
Madrid looked ponderous during the early exchanges and their flat start was punished seven minutes in.
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