Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed four goals to take his season's tally to 33 as Real Madrid crushed Sevilla 6-2 on Saturday to keep their slim hopes of beating Barcelona to the La Liga title alive. The gap at the top of the table is now down to five points but after Barcelona play Espanyol in the Catalan derby on Sunday, there will only be three games to play.
Real faced Sevilla on the back of tumultuous double header with Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final where they were beaten by their bitter rivals.
Looking to restore pride, coach Jose Mourinho played a full strength side against a Sevilla team in the fight for a place in the Europa League. Frenchman Karim Benzema missed a glaring chance early on but finally the Real pressure told as Sergio Ramos headed home a corner. Ronaldo extended the lead after bringing down a pass from Pepe and firing past the keeper before Kaka hit a third as Real dominated. In the second half Sevilla threatened a comeback with an Alvaro Negredo goal before Ronaldo struck three more times to take his league tally to 33 goals, two more than Barcelona's Lionel Messi. Negredo wrapped up the scoring with what was only a consolation for Sevilla. After the game Real's assistant coach Aitor Karanka attended the press conference with Mourinho refusing to speak to the media since receiving a five match ban from UEFA for criticising Barcelona.
"Each game is different. A league match, a cup game and a Champions League knock-out are all different and on top of this each referee has their own approach," said Karanka, alluding to the performances by the referees in both Champions League semi-final legs, which left Real angry.