The reigning champions' World Player of the Year returned to form after three barren and lacklustre matches, firing home a left-foot half-volley on 33 minutes to open the scoring against the Basques visitors.

His second goal, ten minutes afer the break, may go down as one of his best in a Real shirt.

Picking up the ball around 30 metres in front of the Athletic goal, he danced past a succession of men in red-and-white striped shirts before unleashing a left foot thunderbolt just inside the area.

Ronaldo nearly got his hat trick shortly afterwards but instead became the service provider for Real's third goal, going around two Athletic defenders before laying the ball across the face of the goal to give Luis Figo an easy tap in.

The brace takes Ronaldo's tally to eight goals from ten league games this season.

In addition to Ronaldo's return to form, Real will be heartened ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match at Partizan Belgrade about the fitness of David Beckham.

The England captain had missed Real's two previous matches with a hamstring strain but showed no ill effects on Saturday.

A sad postscript to the match was that an Athletic supporter remains in a critical but stable condition in Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital after being hit on the head by a bottle and rendered unconscious earlier in the day.

Spanish radio station Cadena Ser said that the 25 year-old fan had been attacked by supporters of the Spanish second division club Rayo Vallecano in a bar in the Madrid suburbs near the Rayo ground, before Rayo played another Basque club Eibar.

Real have 23 points from 10 games to lead Deportivo by one point.

Valencia started the weekend in third place with 20 points and play at struggling Real Mallorca later on Sunday, but need to win by five clear goals in order to grab back the league leadership they held earlier in the season.

Deportivo's 0-0 draw at Murcia earlier on Saturday was their second mediocre performance in four days against relegation-threatened opposition.

The Galician visitors constantly attacked but were woefully off-target on the rare occasions they could break down the dogged defence of last season's second division champions.

The best opportunity Deportivo had to break the deadlock came late in the game but Walter Pandiani's header just skimmed over the bar.

By contrast, Murcia showed little ambition and seemed intent on just salvaging a point after their 3-0 midweek mauling by Barcelona.

"A draw was fair. Each team had their chances and Murcia are always difficult to beat at home," said Deportivo coach Javier Irureta, not looking for excuses for dropping two vital points.

Murcia remain in trouble, second from the bottom of the Spanish first division, despite the draw.

However, after three consecutive defeats, a relieved Murcia coach Joaquin Peiro was grateful for small mercies.

"We finally played well for a full game rather than 45 minutes, and I thought our defence did well to snuff out an attack as dangerous as Deportivo's," commented Peiro.

Celta Vigo went down 1-0 at home to Racing Santander, who are proving to be one of the surprise teams of the season in Spain.

The only goal of the game came after two minutes when Rodolfo Bodipo nodded across a pass for Israeli international Yossi Benayoun to volley home.