Rock-bottom Malaga welcomed back one of their success stories on Sunday night, but could only watch as Isco Alarcon put in a Man of the Match performance to all but confirm his former side's relegation.
The Andalusians went into the 14 points adrift with seven games to go and despite the visitors leaving the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric in the Spanish capital, Malaga never looked like producing a shock.
Real Madrid were the better side throughout at the Rosaleda, with Isco clearly a class above any other player on the pitch.
Is always looked like being a busy night for Roberto in the home goal and he was forced into his first real piece of work with 16 minutes gone as he plunged to his right to palm away Mateo Kovacic's header after he was picked out by Isco.
Seven minutes later, the Spanish international was at it again, spinning on the edge of the Malaga box and prodding the ball into the path of Lcas Vazquez, but he could only blaze over with only Roberto to beat.
Jut before the half-hour mark Real did find the breakthrough and it was all down to one man.
Isco was brought down on the edge of the Malaga box and he dusted himself down to step up and curl the ensuing free-kick over the wall and into the far corner, before pleading for the forgiveness of the Malaga faithful.
Real took their foot off the gas at that point as Malaga looked for a way back into the game, but it wasn't forthcoming.
Maxime Lestienne saw an effort drop just wide of the far post with Navas beaten, before a mistake from Jesus Vallejo handed the hosts a late consolation.
The young defender failed to cut out a cross from the left, with the loose ball dropping for Diego Rolan to prod home off the underside of the bar from close range to reduce the arrears.
That proved to be the last kick of the game as Real returned to the capital with three points to move back into third in La Liga, whilst Malaga remain rooted to the bottom, waiting for their fate to be confirmed.
The win was 'Los Blancos' boss Zinedine Zidane's 100th at the helm of the club.