Real demolish Levante to keep pressure on Barcelona
The home side had struggled to impose themselves on their modest opponents for most of the first half, but burst into life two minutes before the break when Ronaldo fired in at the near post after a precision pass from David Beckham.
Real then put the result beyond doubt with a devastating three-goal salvo at the start of the second half featuring spectacular strikes from Luis Figo and Beckham and a second goal from Ronaldo. Substitute Michael Owen completed the rout three minutes from time.
The win kept Real in second place in the standings, seven points behind leaders Barcelona who claimed a nervous 2-1 win over Getafe on Saturday, in which the Catalan club’s Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o was subjected to racist chants.
Rafael Marquez of Mexico scored first for Barcelona in the 21st minute and two minutes later midfielder Deco beat keeper Francisco Sanchez Broto after a great through ball from Xavi to make it 2-0 to the away side.
But Getafe, with just four wins thus far in the season, did not lie down, and veteran 36-year-old Romanian Gica Craioveanu - who was later sent off - was gifted a goal in the 59th minute by Barcelona right back Carles Puyol.
In other matches, Athletic Bilbao hammered Racing Santander 3-0, Santi Ezquerro opening the scoring in the sixth minute. Carlos Gurpegui headed another home in the 25th minute and Ismael Urzaiz wrapped up proceedings for the Basque side with his eighth of the season in the 62nd minute.
Espanyol, who beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Saturday, are in third, a further two points behind and Real Betis moved up to fourth after their 2-1 win at home to Villarreal. Osasuna produced one of the results of the day when they hammered high-flying Sevilla 4-1 at home, a win that pushed them up to sixth, while Deportivo Coruna are in seventh after surrendering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to Real Sociedad.
Goals from Moretti and Baraja gave Valencia a 2-0 win over Mallorca. The game was overshadowed by a horrific injury to the winner’s Sissoko after a horror tackle from Farinos.
In Italy, Internazionale produced a stunning late comeback to preserve their unbeaten Serie A record, courtesy of a 2-2 draw at home to table-toppers Juventus.
Second half goals from Pavel Nedved and Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave Juve a comfortable 2-0 lead. But a double substitution worked wonders for Inter, as Alvaro Recoba lofted the ball to Christian Vieri and he angled a drive past Gianluigi Buffon to bring the home side back into the game on 79 minutes.
With five minutes left, Roberto Mancini’s troops made it 11 draws in 13 league games when Adriano scored.
Serie A champions Milan kept up their pursuit of the Turin side with a narrow success at Chievo Verona. The in-form Hernan Crespo bagged the only goal of the game after 50 minutes to keep Milan on the coat-tails of the table-toppers.
Lazio’s frustrating season shows no sign of abating after they slumped to a 3-2 defeat at home to Cagliari. Goran Pandev’s seventh minute goal put Lazio in a strong position but the visitors were level on 34 minutes through Antonio Langella.
Goals in the space of five minutes from Mauro Esposito and the evergreen Gianfranco Zola turned the game in Cagliari’s favour, with Lazio offering a reply on 79 minutes through Massimo Oddo’s penalty.
Messina continue to sit in a lofty position as they came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw at home to fellow promoted side Fiorentina. Palermo shot up the table as they pocketed their fourth success in Serie A by beating Brescia 2-0 on their travels.
Sampdoria pinched a dramatic late victory at home to Parma as Cesare Bovo’s red card in the final minute enabled Francesco Flachi to score the winner from the penalty spot.
Schalke kept pace with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich following a 2-1 home win over Arminia Bielefeld yesterday. Rudiger Kauf’s strike midway through the first half stunned the high-flying Royal Blues. Schalke however, replied eight minutes later through Levan Kobiashvili before Ailton struck the home side’s winner seven minutes before the break.
The result keeps Schalke two points behind Bayern who defeated FSV Mainz 4-2 on Saturday.
In the day’s other action Bochum hammered FC Nuremerg 3-1 while goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Andrej Voronin gave Bayer Leverkusen a 2-0 win over Hansa Rostock, the same margin of victory which Werder Bremen enjoyed over Borussia Dortmund.
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