Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick on Saturday saw Real Madrid to a comfortable 4-0 win over Getafe but, just as Los Blancos have spent the season in Barcelona’s substantial shadow, so CR7 was outdone by Lionel Messi. The magical Argentine hit four in Barca’s 5-1 demolition of Osasuna as Tito Vilanova’s men extended their lead over Atletico Madrid to 11 points.
Messi’s quadruple strike at Camp Nou took his La Liga tally for the season to 32 (Ronaldo now has 21) and confirmed that last week’s slip up at Real Sociedad was nothing more than a blip. The margin of victory also highlighted Osasuna’s continuing problems. The Pamplona side, who played more than an hour with 10 men after Arribas was sent off, have been stranded in the bottom three all season and look increasingly like relegation material .
Second-placed Atletico surprisingly slipped up losing 3-0 to struggling Athletc Bilbao. It was a measure of revenge for the Basques, who were beaten by Atleti in the Europa League final in May. Atletico’s defeat meant city rivals Real closed the gap between the two to just four points.
Malaga remain fourth after beating Mallorca 3-2 in an exciting encounter at the Iberostar. Goals from Javier Saviola and Isco gave Malaga an early lead before Victor Casadesus pulled one back for the home side. Nacho Monreal extended the visitors’ lead and although Giovani dos Santos scored for Mallorca with 20 minutes remaining, Manuel Pellegrini’s men held on.
Goals from Jonas, Nelson Valdez and Ricardo Costa’s injury-time winner saw Valencia home against nine-man Deportivo. Los Che had to come from behind after a brace from Riki had put them 2-1 ahead, but the home side gave them a helping hand by having Silvio and Paulo Assuncao dismissed. Depor remain rooted to the bottom and look increasingly likely to be making a swift return to La Segunda.
Rayo Vallecano continue to over achieve and consolidated sixth place with a 3-0 win over fifth place Betis. Piti, Andrija Delibasic and Jose Carlos were on target for Rayo.
Sevilla ran out 3-0 winners in the Andalucian derby to increase Granada’s relegation worries. Geoffrey Kondogbia, Alfredo Negredo and Gary Medel were on target for Sevilla.
Elsewhere, Levante remained in contention for a Europa League place with a 2-1 win over Real Valladolid. Celta and Real Sociedad shared two goals while Zaragoza-Espanyol finished goalless.
