Sometimes in football, players will do something in an attempt to pick up a tactical yellow card. With some important games on the horizon, a player might think it's worth missing one in order to be available for the fixtures that follow.

And that's exactly what Cristiano Ronaldo tried to do on Saturday afternoon when Real Madrid took on Valencia as they looked to stay ahead of Barcelona in the La Liga title race.

Los Blancos won the game 2-1, putting them temporarily back at the top of the Spanish league table, but they were moved back down to second later in the evening when Barcelona toppled Espanyol 3-0 in the Catalan derby.

Real Madrid still have a game in hand over their rivals and having had their squad ravaged by injuries and suspensions recently they want to make sure they have their strongest players available for their bigger games.

And that's what Cristiano Ronaldo had in mind when Madrid won a free kick in their half while the score delicately balanced in their favour, but was foiled by one of his teammates.

With midfielder Casemiro standing over the ball, Ronaldo approached and appeared to tell him to hold off so that he could take a little longer with kicking the ball back into play in the hope of earning a yellow card.

Ronaldo is currently on four bookings for the season, meaning one more would rule him out of Madrid's next game against already relegated Granada next week.

And with tougher games against Sevilla and Malaga following, as well as the Champions League semi finals against Atletico Madrid, so it would have suited Real if he missed next week's game instead of risking it against the others.

However, Casemiro, either not thinking or just displaying his outright disdain for time wasting didn't listen and kicked the ball on.

Knowing Ronaldo, that action likely earned Casemiro a bit of a telling off back in the dressing room. If only he'd realised!

The likelihood is that Ronaldo will now likely sit out of the Granada game to ensure he's available for the following fixtures, though he will still have to be careful not to get himself in trouble to make sure he isn't enforced to sit out a game where Madrid will really need him.

The title race is getting tense now, and Real's squad problems probably isn't helping Zinedine Zidane sleep at night.