Real Madrid ended a turbulent week with three points as they came from behind to beat bottom club Osasuna.
Second half goals from Sergio Ramos, Gonzalo Higuain and Arjen Robben secured the win for Juande Ramos' men after Javed Nekounam had headed the visitors into a deserved half-time lead, although the game hinged on a controversial penalty award that resulted in Juanfran being sent-off late on.
The winger appeared to have won a spot-kick for Jose Antonio Camacho's men when he went down under a challenge from Pepe with the game delicately poised at 2-1 but, after some confusion, he was issued with his second yellow card for diving by referee Alfonso Perez Burrull.
The build-up to the game had been overshadowed by the resignation of Madrid president Ramon Calderon amid allegations of vote-rigging at the club's last general assembly and the news made for a strange atmosphere around the Bernabeu.
It appeared to have a distracting effect on the Madrid players who struggled to stamp their authority on a patchy first-half as Osasuna comfortably contained the threat posed by their more illustrious opponents and caused the occasional problem at the other end.
Masoud Shojaei and Juanfran both went close for the visitors before they eventually forced the breakthrough on 20 minutes.
A free-kick down the left flank was pushed into the path of Jaroslav Plasil who delivered an inviting cross for Nekounam to climb high above Fabio Cannavaro and power a header into the far corner with Iker Casillas rooted to the spot.
The goal did nothing to raise Madrid from their slumber and it came as no surprise to see Ramos make a double substitution at the interval with Rafael van der Vaart and Klaas Jan Huntelaar replacing Cannavaro and Wesley Sneijder.
Madrid began the second period with much more purpose and they were back on level terms with the half barely five minutes old, although the goal owed a great deal to the poor goalkeeping of Roberto.
Ramos tried his luck with a shot from 30 yards and the ball squirmed through the grasp of the Osasuna keeper and into the roof of the net.
It was a stroke of good fortune for the hosts and they grabbed the lead with their next attack on 64 minutes.
Higuain slipped a ball out to Robben inside the Osasuna penalty box and the in-form winger appeared to be running into a cul-de-sac when he squeezed a ball across the six-yard box that wrong-footed several defenders, allowing the Argentinian forward to meet the return pass and slot into the corner.
Huntelaar then went close with a couple of attempts before the moment of controversy arrived on 82 minutes as Juanfran wrong-footed Pepe and appeared to have won a penalty only to receive his marching orders instead.
Only then did Madrid really threaten to turn the screw and it was no great surprise when Robben put the result beyond doubt when he cut inside from the right and fired a shot into the far corner from 12 yards in the second minute of stoppage time.
