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Ronaldo Triple Lifts Madrid 10 Points Over Barcelona
Paul Logothetis | February 13, 2012

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, right, showing a little magic on his way to a hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 4-2 win over Levante on Sunday. Madrid has a 10-point lead over second-place Barcelona. (AFP Photo/Pedro Armestre) Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, right, showing a little magic on his way to a hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 4-2 win over Levante on Sunday. Madrid has a 10-point lead over second-place Barcelona. (AFP Photo/Pedro Armestre)
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Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo’s sixth hat-trick of the season guided Real Madrid to a 4-2 victory over 10-man Levante on Sunday to extend the Spanish leader’s advantage over defending champion Barcelona to 10 points.

Gustavo Cabral gave Levante a surprising lead in the fifth minute at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, and Madrid struggled to respond until Vicente Iborra’s red card set up Ronaldo’s penalty before halftime.

Ronaldo headed home his second in the 50th before unleashing a shot from outside the area seven minutes later that took a wicked dip over goalkeeper Gustavo Munua and into the net.

Another defensive lapse from Madrid allowed Arouna Kone to head in Levante’s second in the 63rd, but Ronaldo fed Karim Benzema to curl in Madrid’s fourth minutes later.

After completing his hat-trick, Ronaldo sprinted over to celebrate his league-leading 27th goal with coach Jose Mourinho, who was swarmed by players as Madrid took control of a championship that is now theirs to lose after Barcelona stumbled to a 3-2 defeat at Osasuna on Saturday.

It was the 4,000th goal scored at the Bernabeu, as Madrid become the first team to net 75 times in 22 rounds as it eyes a first league crown in four years.

“Things are going well for me but the team is what is important,” said Ronaldo, whose 13th career Spanish league hat-trick saw him pass Ferenc Puskas to trail only Alfredo di Stefano’s total of 22 for the club.

Mourinho warned the team against complacency.

“There are still a lot of games to go, a lot of points available and every game is more difficult than the last. We’re playing for everything with every game,” he said.

Earlier on Sunday, third-place Valencia beat Sporting Gijon 4-0 for its first league win in nearly two months, while last-place Zaragoza got a much-needed boost by downing Espanyol 2-0 for its first win since October.

Valencia’s Sofiane Feghouli curled a tremendous shot into the roof of the goal and Sporting defender Alberto Botia redirected Feghouli’s 73rd-minute strike into his own goal. Jonas scored twice in stoppage time to move Valencia within eight points of Barcelona, while Sporting is just four points ahead of Zaragoza.

Zaragoza’s first victory in 15 games came from second-half goals by Paulo da Silva and Juan Carlos Perez as Espanyol’s seven-game winning run ended.

Malaga rallied for a 3-1 victory over Mallorca, Rayo Vallecano beat Getafe 2-0 in a Madrid derby and Villarreal topped Granada 3-1 to win consecutive games for the first time this season.

Levante hasn’t won a match in 2012 but is still fourth and in the final Champions League place, tied with Espanyol on 32 points but ahead on goal difference. Malaga, Osasuna and Atletico Madrid, which drew 0-0 at Racing Santander on Saturday, have 31 points and Bilbao has 30.

Associated Press