Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 18th and 19th La Liga goals of the season as Real Madrid survived some late pressure to win 3-2 at city rivals Getafe on Monday, as they trimmed the gap to leaders Barcelona back to two points.
Portuguese forward Ronaldo struck in each half either side of a Mesut Ozil effort to keep Real hard on the heels of champions Barca, who had stretched their lead to five with a 2-1 home win over promoted Levante on Sunday.
Real coach Jose Mourinho gave midfielder Kaka a run-out in the final 15 minutes for the Brazil playmaker’s first appearance this season following post-World Cup knee surgery.
PHOTO: AFP
They had taken an 11th-minute lead at the Coliseum when Angel Di Maria went to ground in the penalty area and Ronaldo blasted the spot-kick past Getafe keeper Jordi Codina.
Di Maria played Ozil through for Real’s second goal in the 19th minute before Dani Parejo dribbled past Alvaro Arbeloa and Lassana Diarra and lashed a shot past Real’s Iker Casillas 10 minutes later.
Ronaldo looked to have made the game safe 12 minutes into the second half with a smart finish from Karim Benzema’s pass, which put him two goals clear of Barca forward Lionel Messi in the La Liga scoring charts.
However, the dismissal of Real defender Arbeloa in the 82nd minute for a second yellow card lifted the home side.
Substitute Juan Albin hammered home a loose ball in the 85th to give Getafe hope, but they were unable to find the equalizer.
Real have 44 points from 17 matches, behind Barca on 46, while Villarreal stay third on 36 after they beat Almeria 2-0 in an earlier kickoff.
Jose Catala and Borja Valero grabbed the goals for Villarreal as they cemented their grip on third, while Atletico Madrid missed the chance to climb above Espanyol into fifth when they were held 0-0 at home by Racing Santander.
Atletico are sixth with 27 points from 17 matches, one behind Espanyol who lost 2-1 at fourth-placed Valencia (31) on Sunday.
A late goal from midfielder Braulio snatched a 2-1 triumph for Real Zaragoza over visiting Real Sociedad that lifted them off the bottom of the table into 18th, level on 13 points with 19th-placed Almeria. Real Mallorca were 3-0 winners at home to Hercules and are ninth.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB