Cristiano Ronaldo struck a first-half hat-trick -
his third Primera Division treble of the season - as
Real Madrid romped to a 4-0 victory over Malaga at La
Rosaleda.
• Ronaldo back on-song in Malaga triumph
Ronaldo had not scored in his previous three Madrid
matches but he brought that mini-drought to an end in
some style with goals in the 23rd, 28th and 38th minutes
to take his tally to 10 in La Liga this season.
Gonzalo Higuain also continued his good recent goalscoring
form with Madrid's opener as Jose Mourinho's side made
it six wins on the trot in all competitions, during
which run they have scored 25 times.
For big-spending Malaga, the defeat shows they still
have some way to go in their bid to challenge the big
guns in La Liga, with today's loss being their second
in succession and third in eight games this term.
Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini - against his former
club - can take some solace from his side's impressive
second-half performance, when they were unlucky not
to net at least once, striking the woodwork twice and
also bringing a number of good saves out of Iker Casillas.
Both sides had big penalty shouts turned down early
on, Ronaldo for Madrid and then Joaquin Sanchez for
Malaga, before the visitors took the lead in the 11th
minute through Higuain.
Angel Di Maria's through-ball on the edge of the area
picked out the run of his Argentinian compatriot and,
as the Malaga defence appealed in vain for offside against
any of three Madrid players, Higuain skipped past home
goalkeeper Ruben Martinez before slotting in from a
tight angle.
Malaga almost snatched an equaliser nine minutes later
when Antonio Apono's curling free-kick brought a diving
stop from Casillas, but then Ronaldo took centre-stage
to put the game out of the home side's reach before
half-time with three goals in 15 minutes.
Di Maria was the provider again for Madrid's second
goal with his cross from the right inch-perfect for
Ronaldo, who stole in between two Malaga defenders to
side-foot a volley past Martinez.
Ronaldo made it 3-0 five minutes later, picking up
a pass 25 yards out, easily skipping past Martin Demichelis
and then drilling a low shot across Martinez into the
far bottom corner.
The £80million man, who struck seven hat-tricks
last term, then completed yet another treble following
some more slack defending.
Di Maria's deep corner was headed back into the six-yard
box by Sergio Ramos where the unmarked Ronaldo acrobatically
flicked the ball into the net with his heel.
At that stage, with the match over as a contest, it
only looked a question of how many Madrid would run
up and it should have been 5-0 five minutes into the
second half when Higuain was presented with a clear
chance by Kaka.
However, Higuain, scorer of three hat-tricks in his
previous four starts for club and country, fired wide
with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Despite the half-time scoreline though, Malaga refused
to give up and they created a host of chances in the
second period.
Just before Higuain's miss they struck the crossbar
when Alarcon Isco's 25-yard free-kick came back off
the woodwork, before Apono, Eliseu Pereira and Jose
Salomon Rondon were all denied by Casillas and Martin
Demichelis glanced a header wide from close range.
Sebastian Fernandez then became the second Malaga player
to hit the bar while Isco and Fernandez both drew saves
from Casillas late on as Malaga were just unable to
get on the scoresheet.
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