Ronaldo keeps Madrid ahead of Barcelona
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Article summary
Real Madrid CF needed two late Cristiano Ronaldo goals to win 3-1 at Hercules CF and stay a point ahead of FC Barcelona, inspired by Lionel Messi to a 5-0 defeat of Sevilla FC.
Article top media content
Article body
Real Madrid CF maintained their one-point Liga lead over FC Barcelona after both won on Saturday but Valencia CF lost ground.
Madrid were the first of the top two to kick off and three minutes in at Hercules CF were behind to a David Trezeguet header. However, it was a different story after the break. Ángel Di María equalised on 52 minutes after Juan Calatayud could only parry a shot from Cristiano Ronaldo. And the Portuguese attacker ensured Madrid's pressure for a winner finally told with eight minutes left, pouncing when Karim Benzema's effort was saved by Calatayud, and then scoring his tenth goal in four Liga games soon after to make it 3-1.
Barcelona then stormed to a 5-0 win against Sevilla FC. Lionel Messi started it off in the fourth minute and midway through the half set up David Villa to double the lead. Sevilla lost Abdoulay Konko to two bookings just before the interval and in the second half Daniel Alves pounced on a defensive slip for Barcelona's third. Stylish finishes from Messi (64) and Villa (90) put a fitting cap on the scoring. Fourth-placed Valencia are now six points adrift of Madrid after being held 1-1 at home by Real Zaragoza, who moved off the bottom.
