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Ronaldo eyes 100-goal mark for Madrid

Comment: 0 October 25th, 2011 by: admin

AFTER breaking out of a mild slump, Cristiano Ronaldo is back to his goal-scoring best and is aiming high to reach the century mark.

Ronaldo’s hat-trick during Real Madrid’s 4-0 crushing of Malaga in the La Liga over the weekend came following a month-long goal drought.

The Portuguese striker now has a total of 98 goals and is targeting to reach or breach the 100-goal mark when Madrid battle Villarreal on Wednesday.

Ronaldo’s last goal in the league before that re-emergence was made almost a month back against Rayo Vallecano. His triple on Saturday raised his tally thus far to 10, putting him side by side on top with his Barcelona rival, Lionel Messi.

The hat-trick was masterfully produced in a 15-minute span. He could have added another but a free-kick later on bounced off the woodwork.

“I am very happy with the victory but what was important is we got the victory,’’ said the 26-year-old Portuguese ace, adding “it will be great to reach 100 goals this season but the team is what is important and now we have another significant game against Villarreal.’’

Ronaldo said he was not worried at all when he was not finding the back of the net for a month as he gave importance to team effort. “Some days you give assists and others you score. That is how a team works.’’

Madrid with 19 points are currently just a point behind leaders Levante, who narrowly escaped relegation the last term. Holders Barcelona are third with 18 points.

The 24-year-old Messi could not add to his tally as he missed a late penalty in Barca’s 0-0 draw with Sevilla.

But Barca coach Pep Guardiola said he is confident Messi won’t be affected by that miss when they take on Granada.

“He is very strong mentally,’’ said Guardiola of Messi. “Another day he will score. He has done a lot of great things and people realise that.’’

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