Ronaldo’s Barca warning

Real Madrid reduced the gap at the top of the Primera Division to eight points ahead of next week’s El Clasico as Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick led them to a 5-1 victory over Deportivo La Coruna last night.

Riki had given the visitors a shock lead on 15 minutes but Real were level seven minutes later when Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot after Manuel Pablo had brought down Angel Di Maria.

And the hosts were in cruise control by half time as Di Maria and Ronaldo nodded in from close range.

Pepe headed in the fourth before Ronaldo completed his hat-trick with another penalty after Evaldo handled Kaka’s cross.

On Saturday, Barcelona maintained their 100% start to the Primera Division campaign with a thrilling victory at 10-man Sevilla.

Tito Vilanova’s men appeared to be heading for defeat when Piotr Trochowski and Alvaro Negredo fired Sevilla into a deserved 2-0 lead, but Cesc Fabregas’s brace pulled Barca level before substitute David Villa secured the win in stoppage time.

Two goals in the opening 20 minutes were enough to hand Granada their first victory of the season as they withstood a second-half onslaught from Celta Vigo yesterday.

Guilherme Siqueira had given the home side the lead from the penalty spot after 11 minutes and the Brazilian left-back then brilliantly set up Gabriel Torje for a second.

Iago Aspas quickly reduced the arrears for Celta and the hosts were thankful to goalkeeper Tono as he made a number of fine saves after the break, most notably to deny Park Chu-young.

Four second-half goals — three in the last eight minutes — saw Osasuna wrap up their first victory of the season as they dispatched Levante.

In Italy, Inter Milan moved up to third in Serie A thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win over 10-man Fiorentina at the San Siro.

Diego Milito put the Nerazzurri ahead from the penalty spot and Antonio Cassano made it two.

A goal from Romulo five minutes before the break gave the Viola hope and they continued to pile the pressure on their hosts.

A red card for Gonzalo Rodriguez in the 62nd minute diminished Fiorentina’s chances of getting an equaliser but Inter still had to work hard for the three points, which take them above Sampdoria and into a share of third place with Lazio, four points behind league leaders Juventus.

But joining the Turin side at the top of table were Napoli, as EdinsonCavani’s second-half penalty earned a deserved 1-0 victory over Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

The Uruguay international converted after a foul which earned Daniele Gastaldello a red card and Napoli could easily have won by more but for wayward finishing throughout.

Meanwhile, Lazio struck twice in the first half to record a 2-1 victory which leaves them four points off the summit.

Cristian Ledesma set up the first for Ederson and then scored himself from the penalty spot to give the hosts a commanding half-time lead.

Massimo Paci’s stoppage-time goal was all Siena had to show for their efforts and they remain in the bottom three after six games.