-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Cristiano Ronaldo continued his sensational scoring form with a hat-trick on Wednesday night to keep Real Madrid 's Spanish title hopes alive going into the final two matches of the season . Real trail Barcelona by one point after matching the defending champions ' 4-1 victory over Tenerife the night before , coming from behind to defeat European hopefuls Mallorca . While world player of the year Lionel Messi took his tally to 44 goals with two more on Tuesday , Ronaldo is proving to be just as important to Real 's chances . The Portugal forward , who became the world 's most expensive player when he signed for $ 130 million from Manchester United in pre-season , has now scored 36 times this campaign . He followed up his double from Sunday 's last-gasp 3-2 victory against Osasuna with another superb solo display , canceling out Aritz Aduriz 's 16th-minute header with an opportunist effort 10 minutes later as he beat goalkeeper Dudu Aouate to a long ball by Sergio Ramos . Ronaldo put Real ahead 11 minutes after halftime with his 24th league goal this season , again combining with Ramos as he chested down the Argentine 's pass and prodded the ball past Aouate . He made it 3-1 with 18 minutes to play as he skipped past two defenders on the left-hand edge of the penalty area and calmly slotted a low right-foot shot past the keeper to seal his first treble for the club . Gonzalo Higuain capped the victory 10 minutes later with a superb deft chip over Aouate after running clear for his 26th goal in La Liga this season , putting him behind only Messi 's 31 . This weekend , Real will host Athletic Bilbao while Barcelona travel to Sevilla , who reclaimed fourth place from Mallorca with a 5-1 victory at Racing Santander . Striker Alvaro Negredo followed up his weekend double with two more goals as Santander , who had Mohamed Tchite sent off for two bookings after he made it 3-1 on the hour , were left just a point above the bottom three . Eighth-placed Athletic Bilbao failed to return to the top six after a 1-1 home draw with Malaga , who moved above Santander on goal difference . Atletico Madrid kept up the fine end-of-season form that has seen Real 's city rivals reach the finals of the Europa League and Copa Del Rey by defeating second-bottom Valladolid 3-1 . Goals from Juanito , Jose Manuel Jurado and Diego Forlan put the ninth-placed hosts 3-0 up before a 78th-minute consolation by Jonathan Sesma as relegation-threatened Valladolid suffered a first defeat under former Spain coach Javier Clemente . Deportivo La Coruna were leapfrogged by Atletico after losing 3-1 at Osasuna , and now can not qualify for the Europa League . Real Zaragoza moved five points clear of the bottom three with a 1-0 win at home to Espanyol , who are a point above in 13th place , thanks to a second-half penalty from in-form striker Adrian Colunga .