Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi scored goals in bunches on Sunday as leader Real Madrid stayed one point ahead of Barcelona with the Spanish league reaching its halfway point. Ronaldo netted a second-half brace as Real won 3-0 at Getafe, while Messi struck his 30th career hat-trick for Barcelona to spearhead their 4-0 rout at Deportivo La Coruna.
Ronaldo took his league-leading tally to 28 goals. Messi trails his rival forward with 19. Defending champions Atletico Madrid did their part to stay in the title race and set up a promising second half of the season by beating bottom side Granada 2-0, remaining in third place, four points behind Real.
Real still have a game in hand to be played next month against Sevilla, who also stayed in the hunt in fourth by beating Malaga 2-0 to remain the league’s only unbeaten home team.
Real started slowly three days after their defence of the Copa del Rey title was ended by Atletico, but their talented attack eventually came through after light snow fell on the Alfonso Perez Coliseum. Ronaldo was particularly subdued until Karim Benzema dribbled to the end line and used a skillful change of foot to open a passing angle and set up the Portugal forward to net from close range in the 63rd minute.
Gareth Bale sprinted forward to redirect James Rodriguez’s long ball with the outer edge of his left foot to double the advantage four minutes later. Rodriguez continued to excel as Real’s playmaker when he spotted Ronaldo calling for the ball and swerved in a perfectly placed cross for the Ballon d’Or winner to head home in the 79th.
After the exit from the cup, Carlo Ancelotti’s team was under pressure to have a strong showing with only one win in four matches to start 2015 after finishing last year on a Spanish record 22-win streak. “We didn’t come back from Christmas in the best shape,” Ancelotti said. “James (Rodriguez) played an extraordinary game. He is getting back to his top form. Little by little the entire team is recovering its best form.”
Bale ended the match limping, but Ancelotti said it was only a “knock.”
Messi tormented Deportivo from kickoff, drawing a save from goalkeeper Fabricio Agosto seconds before Ivan Rakitic met his run with a lobbed pass over the defence that the Argentina forward headed over Agosto in the 10th. Messi got his second in the 33rd by chipping the ball over Agosto when Neymar’s pass for Luis Suarez fell to him at the six-yard box.
And his third came in the 62nd after Deportivo’s defence made the mistake of letting Messi enter the area with the ball pegged to his left boot. He wasted little time in picking his spot and firing an unstoppable strike inside the far post.
“Messi has been playing at a very high level all season, he hasn’t dipped continued…