Ronaldo revels in Madrid derby

By Andy Hall

Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid CF earned a comfortable-looking 3-0 win in the Madrid derby to move within seven points of Primera División leaders FC Barcelona, who lost at Villarreal CF.

Impenetrable Casillas
Club Atlético de Madrid dominated large swathes of the match but were unfortunate to find visiting goalkeeper Iker Casillas in impressive form, denying Fernando Torres, debutant Jesper Grønkjær and Salva Ballesta in the first half. Madrid by contrast, opened the scoring with their first clear approach on Leo Franco's goal after 13 minutes when Zinedine Zidane missed Roberto Carlos' low centre and the ball reached Ronaldo, who fired into the top corner.

Solari strike
With ten minutes remaining, Santiago Solari completed a rare foray into the home side's half and skipped past Franco to lash the ball into an empty net to make it 2-0. Ronaldo wrapped up the scoring three minutes later, beating the offside trap to rifle in from the edge of the area.

'That's football'
Madrid's good fortune was not lost on their new coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo after the game. "We had three chances and scored from each one but that's football," he said. "Atlético dominated throughout but fortunately Casillas had a great game."

Barça beaten
The result takes Madrid closer to leaders Barcelona after Frank Rijkaard's side lost 3-0 at Villarreal. Unusually subdued, they went behind to a well-worked goal from Diego Forlán in the 28th minute, then Gonzalo Rodríguez turned in a Juan Román Riquelme free-kick at the start of the second half before Forlán added his second and Villarreal's third in the dying minutes.

Espanyol fightback
RCD Espanyol also closed the gap on the leaders as they came from behind to record a 4-1 win against CA Osasuna to move fourth. The visitors took a 16th-minute lead through Pierre Webó but the Catalan side responded with aplomb, and after Maxi Rodríguez had equalised, two Fredson headers and a sublime Iván De la Peña free-kick sealed the win.

Luque double
Savio Bortolini earned Real Zaragoza a 1-0 victory against Real Betis Balompié, while Albert Luque scored twice as RC Deportivo La Coruña chalked up their eighth draw of the season, 2-2 at RCD Mallorca. Antonio Pacheco also scored two as strugglers Albacete Balompié defeated Real Sociedad de Fútbol 2-0, while Real Racing Club Santander edged away from the bottom by defeating fellow strugglers Málaga CF 2-1.