Ronaldo goes goal-crazy
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo exults after his hattrick against Getafe yesterday. Photo: AFP
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hattrick to make it an incredible 36 league goals in the current campaign as Real Madrid defeated local rivals Getafe 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday to prevent Barcelona from winning the league title for at least one more day.
If Real had failed to win, Barcelona would have been crowned champions without playing, but Pep Guardiola's side need a point from their final three matches, with Wednesday's match at Levante the first opportunity, to collect a third successive league crown.
The league may seem lost, but Ronaldo has his own agenda to become the league's top-scorer and followed up his quadruple against Sevilla last time out with a hattrick.
The Portuguese star is now in the box seat to win the Pichichi crown for the league's top-scorer with his 36-goal haul taking him five goals ahead of Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo is now within sight of the all-time Pichichi record, which is held by Real Madrid's Mexican forward Hugo Sanchez and Athletic Bilbao legend Telmo Zarra who scored 38 goals in 1990 and 1951 respectively.
Getafe were Ronaldo's latest victims and their 18th defeat of the season leaves them hovering one point above the bottom three with two games left.
Real took the lead on 23 minutes with Mesut Ozil bending in a superb cross with the outside of his left foot and Ronaldo leapt highest to power in a header.
German international Ozil set another up for Ronaldo on 57 minutes cutting the ball back for the former Manchester United man to stroke home into an empty net.
Karim Benzema, largely ignored for the big games against Barcelona, came on and less than 60 seconds after his arrival the French forward scored his 13th league goal on 77 minutes.
Ronaldo then converted a 90th minute penalty for his hattrick with a cheeky chip down the middle to deceive the goalkeeper.
It sealed a 15th home win of the season for Real and moved them five points behind Barcelona, but the champions need just a draw to retain the title due to their superior head to head record over Madrid.
Earlier Deportivo La Coruna took a giant step towards safety with a 2-1 comeback home win over European hopefuls Athletic Bilbao at the Riazor stadium on Tuesday.
Atletico Madrid failed to capitalise on Bilbao's slip as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Racing Santander on Tuesday.
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