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Ronaldo sizzles anew as Madrid pull away

Comment: 0 February 13th, 2012 by: admin

THE gap between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the La Liga has widened and it looks like the Los Blancos are heading to glory this season.

This shaped up after Madrid rolled past 10-man Levante 4-2 on Sunday to pad their lead over the Catalans by 10 points.

Main man Cristiano Ronaldo nailed down his sixth hat trick of the season to power Madrid to the victory at the joyous Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

With the feat, Ronaldo upped his league-best goal tally to 27. After completing another splendid job, the Portuguese ace rushed to coach Jose Mourinho as his teammates swarmed over them to celebrate.

The win also fortified the Los Blancos’ chance to lift the trophy this term after Barca’s bid to retain the crown suffered a major blow when they lost 2-3 at Osasuna on Saturday.

Levante surprisingly drew first blood as Gustavo Cabra scored after only five minutes of play.

But in the 45^th minute, Madrid equalised through a Ronaldo penalty shot when Vicente Iborra was red carded.

It was all Ronaldo and Madrid needed to find their rhythm going. He struck again in the 50^th, this time through a header and converted his third in the 57^th behind a shot from outside the area that beat goalkeeper Gustavo Munua.

The visitors refused to wilt completely and capitalised on a sloppy Madrid defence as Arouna Kone found the back of the net via a header in the 63^rd.

The Catalans sealed the match in the 67^th when Ronaldo assisted Kharim Benzema who netted the hosts’ fourth goal.

Madrid, gunning for their first league trophy in four years, thus became the first squad to score 75 times in 22 rounds.

Ronaldo’s 13^th career Spanish league hat trick enabled him to pass Ferenc Puskas and now trails Alfredo di Stefano who has a total of 22 for the club.

The Portuguese said things are going well for him and downplayed his achievement by saying the team is more important.

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