Good afternoon and welcome to Eurosport's LIVE coverage of the Spanish Liga clash between Real Madrid and Malaga. We'll bring you all the action as it happens. Kick off is at 3.15pm.

You have to feel a little bit sorry for Ronaldo. He did so well to angle that header towards goal from such a tight angle, but at least Benzema was on hand to make the chance count.

Benzema has come in for a lot of criticism of late, but he now has three goals in the space of a week. The Frenchman is still showing his worth to this Real Madrid team.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! Real Madrid 1 (9 mins - Karim Benzema) Malaga 0. There's the opening goal and it has fallen to Benzema! Ronaldo struck the bar with a header from an extremely tight angle, but the Frenchman was on hand to finish the rebound from close range.

Real Madrid were bright in the first few minutes of this match, but Malaga have since grown into the contest and now look rather comfortable. They're even passing the ball around midfield.

RONALDO TAKES AIM! The Real Madrid number seven shoots from the edge of the penalty area, but he skews his effort wide of the far post. Roberto wasn't really troubled, there.

Vazquez is in the Real Madrid starting lineup. It's not often that he starts, but perhaps the thinking from Zidane is that his pace will help liberate both Benzema and Ronaldo?

On the other hand, Malaga haven't scored an away goal all season long. That doesn't suggest that they will pose much of a threat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu this afternoon.

Of course, the midweek thumping of APOEL Nicosia in the Champions League, where they won 6-0, might have put Real Madrid back in their groove. Will that prove to be a turning point?

Some believe Real Madrid are already out of the title race this season. There's a 10 point gap between themselves and pace-setters Barcelona at the top of the Liga standings.

The match is under way at the Santiago Bernabeu! We'll bring you all the action as it happens.

TEAM NEWS: Real Madrid - Casilla, Carvajal, Vallejo, Varane, Marcelo, Kroos, Casemiro, Isco, Vazquez, Ronaldo, Benzema. /// Malaga - Roberto, Rosales, Gonzalez, Hernandez, Juankar, Keko, Recio, Adrian, Castro, Penaranda, Rolan.

I'm Graham Ruthven and you can catch me on Twitter ahead of the match to let me know your thoughts. Are Real Madrid already out of the title race in Spain? Tweet me!