Soccer Extreme : Cristiano Ronaldo scored a double, and Emmanuel Adebayor a late goal, to lead Real Madrid to a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad tonight as the Spanish giants stayed seven points behind the La Liga leaders Barcelona.
José Mourinho's team had to win after their rivals opened up a 10-point gap with their league-record 16th successive win yesterday, a 3-0 defeat of Atletico Madrid in which Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick. Madrid responded to the challenge with a convincing performance to stay perfect in 11 games at Santiago Bernabéu stadium this season.
"We know our margin of error is limited," said the Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso, who started his career with Sociedad. "The important thing is the victory and to keep earning points."
Kaká opened the scoring in the eighth minute, placing a left-footed shot into the far corner after the Sociedad midfielder Gorka Elustondo had made a mistake in clearing a cross and the ball fell to the Brazil playmaker in the area.
Ronaldo blasted in the second in the 21st minute, feinting before firing home from outside the area and ending his four-game scoring drought.
The Portugal forward then headed home a corner by Ozil Mesut in the 42nd and Adebayor capped the win in the 89th minute with his first league goal since joining Real on loan from Manchester City.
Real Sociedad got their consolation goal when a shot by Raul Tamudo was blocked by the goalkeeper Iker Casillas but rebounded off Alvaro Arbeloa into the net in the 72nd minute.
Mourinho deployed his most attacking starting 11 of the season with Ronaldo and Kaká playing alongside Ozil and Adebayor leading the attack. Ronaldo's second goal pulled him level with Lionel Messi on 24 in their personal duel to be the top scorer. Ronaldo has 34 goals in all competitions, Messi 40.
Madrid could have made a rout of it in the second half. Ronaldo came close to a third, Kaká hit the crossbar and Ozil had a goal disallowed for offside.
Earlier Sevilla and Malaga drew 0-0 in a dull Andalusian derby. After an uneventful first half at Sanchez Pizjuan stadium Sevilla improved but could not break through as Alexis Ruano and Frédéric Kanouté missed clear-cut chances.
Sevilla moved into seventh place but remain six points away from the Europa League positions. "These slip-ups are moving us further away from our goal [of playing in Europe next season]," said the Sevilla coach, Gregorio Manzano. "We have to try harder to convert our scoring chances."
Malaga, who are bottom of the table, fell four points from safety because their relegation rivals, Levante and Almeria, won this week. Malaga, who have conceded the most goals in the league with 47, did not concede a goal for the first time in 11 weeks. Their goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo was replaced early on with a leg injury. (guardian)
Highlights All Goals : Real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad