Captain Raul fired Real Madrid to within four points of Primera
Division leaders Barcelona after his hat-trick helped see off third-placed
Sevilla 4-2 at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Raul, who earlier this season become the leading scorer in Madrid's
history after passing Alfredo Di Stefano's tally of 307, struck in
the 45th, 63rd and 66th minutes to continue his side's amazing run
of form under former Sevilla coach Juande Ramos.
The two-time reigning champions have now claimed 52 out of a possible
54 points, while today's victory saw them break a club record with
their eighth successive away victory.
More importantly though, Madrid managed to get a little closer
to Barca - who drew with Valencia last night - ahead of next weekend's
mouthwatering showdown between the top two at the Bernabeu.
Sevilla had threatened an upset when they went ahead through Renato
Dirnei and then, after Raul had struck his quickfire treble, caused
a few nerves in the Madrid camp when Diego Capel got the score back
to 3-2 with 10 minutes to go.
However, Brazilian Marcelo broke away late on to slot home Madrid's
fourth and make it a happy return to his old stomping ground for
coach Ramos.
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