Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 300th Real Madrid goal as the European champions remained four points adrift of La Liga leaders Barcelona with a 2-0 win against Rayo Vallecano de Madrid on Wednesday.
Earlier, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were on target as Barcelona eased past UD Almeria 4-0.
Barca took more than half an hour to make the breakthrough, but Messi did so in style as he curled home his 44th goal of the season into the far corner.
Suarez made the game safe when he fired into the top corner 10 minutes after the break and bagged his second of the evening in stoppage-time after Marc Bartra headed home the third from a Xavi corner.
“It is the stage of the season where we have a lot to play for,” Suarez said.
“We ought to show our personality, because we are Barcelona. In the league we depend on ourselves and we need to continue in this vein,” he added.
Madrid suffered a much more uncomfortable evening in a capital derby before Ronaldo and James Rodriguez struck midway through the second half.
Rayo dominated the first period in terms of possession, but it was still Real who had the better chances as Rodriguez shot straight at Diego Cobeno when unmarked inside the area, before Ronaldo headed over from the Colombian’s free-kick.
At the other end, Iker Casillas made a fine save to keep the visitors level at the break as he parried Roberto Trashorras’ back-post header to safety.
Madrid started much stronger after the break and were centimeters away from an opener when a Gareth Bale header from Rodriguez’s cross looped just wide.
There was then a huge moment of controversy when Ronaldo was booked despite appearing to be clearly brought down by Antonio Amaya inside the area, meaning he will miss tomorrow’s visit by Sociedad Deportiva Eibar to the Santiago Bernabeu.
The chances continued to come and go for Real as Benzema, Marcelo and Bale fired just off target in a matter of minutes, and the goal finally arrived when a fine run and cross from Dani Carvajal picked out Ronaldo as he sealed his triple century of goals for Madrid in just 288 games.
Six minutes later it was 2-0 as Ronaldo turned provider this time for Rodriguez to curl home his first goal since returning from a two-month layoff with a foot injury.
Barcelona also started slowly at the Camp Nou as boss Luis Enrique made six changes with one eye on tomorrow’s tough trip to play Sevilla.
However, Messi opened the scoring in brilliant fashion when he found space on the edge of the area and curled into the far corner with pinpoint accuracy.
Suarez made sure of Barca’s 20th win in their past 21 games in all competitions with a little help from Julian Cuesta as the goalkeeper got a hand to the Uruguayan’s powerful effort, but could not keep it out.
A consistent feature of that run has been Barcelona’s sudden ability to score from set-pieces and they did so for the third consecutive game 15 minutes from time when Bartra rose highest to power home Xavi’s in-swinging delivery.
Suarez was gifted his second when Pedro Rodriguez unselfishly picked out the former Liverpool man to roll into an empty net.
At the other end of the table RC Deportivo de La Coruna sacked manager Victor Fernandez after Cordoba ended a 10-game losing streak with a 1-1 draw against los Brancoazuis at the Riazor.
Granada’s survival hopes also suffered a huge blew as Theo Bongonda struck a 93rd-minute equalizer for RC Celta de Vigo to secure a 1-1 draw at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care