Rampant Ronaldo inspires Real to 6-2 victory

MADRID, (Reuters) – Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real  Madrid to an entertaining 6-2 victory over Villarreal that moved  them two points behind leaders Barcelona in La Liga yesterday.

The Portuguese forward was a constant threat throughout and  led the way with a thunderous freekick after 17 minutes before  having a hand in four more goals.

Kaka scored from the penalty spot soon after, and although  Marcos Senna put Villarreal back into the game with a superb  freekick in the 30th minute, Ronaldo set up Gonzalo Higuain for  the third after the re-start.  Again, Villarreal scored against the run of play through  Nilmar in the 65th minute but Ronaldo helped set up Higuain and  Kaka for their second goals, and finally won a penalty netted by  Xabi Alonso at the end.

Barcelona crushed Racing Santander 4-0 on Saturday to move  on to 58 points from 23 games. Real have 56 and third-placed  Valencia, who host Getafe today, have 43.    Earlier, Athletic Bilbao kept up their push for the European  places with a 4-1 victory over 10-man Tenerife at San Mames.

The islanders, who have only managed two points on their  travels all season, had defender Jose Antonio Culebras sent off  after 17 minutes and Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente scored from the  ensuing penalty.   Gaizka Toquero, Andoni Iraola and Igor Gabilondo sealed the  win and moved the Basques onto 36 points from 23 games in  seventh.

In other games, Sporting Gijon won 3-1 at Real Zaragoza,  Malaga were 2-1 home winners over Espanyol and Osasuna drew 1-1  with Real Valladolid.