Young star Jese Rodriguez kept Real Madrid’s title hopes alive by coming to his team’s rescue with a late winner in a thrilling victory over dogged Valencia at the Mestalla last night.

Following wins for top two Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti’s men knew that only victory would suffice and they made a good start when Angel Di Maria – replacing the injured Gareth Bale – netted a first half opener with a beautifully taken strike. 

Valencia, led by caretaker boss Nico Estevez, soon responded to level through Pablo Piatti’s header after hesitant Madrid defending, only for Cristiano Ronaldo to restore Madrid´s lead before halftime with a header of his own from Di Maria’s well delivered free kick.

But the hosts bounced back again when French defender Jeremy Mathieu made it 2-2 shortly after the hour mark with another header, this time from a corner.

Despite chances at both ends, the game appeared to be heading for a draw until substitute Rodriguez linked up with Luka Modric to score the winner with just eight minutes remaining, with Valencia keeper Vicente Guiata left extremely disappointed by his failure to save the shot.

Elsewhere in La Liga, Athletic Bilbao maintained their grip on fourth place with a nervous 2-1 victory over lowly Rayo Vallecano.

Defender Mikel San Jose netted the opener for the hosts but Alberto Bueno levelled, before classy midfielder Mikel Rico popped up with the winner for Bilbao.

And Espanyol moved into the top half of the table with a 4-2 thrashing of hapless Real Valladolid, who remain in deep relegation trouble.

The Catalan hosts needed less than five minutes to open the scoring through Serio Garcia’s penalty, and they were 4-0 up midway through the second half thanks to a brace from Cristian Stuani and another from striker Victor Sanchez, with Valladolid’s late goals from Javi Guerra and Victor Perez offering scant consolation.

Finally, Celta Vigo and Osasuna shared the spoils in a relegation battle, drawing 1-1 with an opener from Emiliano Armenteros for the visitors cancelled out by a leveller from Augusto Fernandez.