Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals as Real Madrid thrashed Sevilla 6-2 to deny Barcelona a chance of clinching its third straight Spanish league title on Sunday.
Sergio Ramos, Ronaldo and Kaka all scored for Madrid in the first half on Saturday, and Ronaldo answered Alvaro Negredo's goal for Sevilla with a second-half hat trick before Negredo added another one late on.
It was the second time Ronaldo has scored four goals this season after his haul against Racing Santander on Oct. 23. He now has a leading 33 goals this season, two more than Barcelona forward Lionel Messi.
Barcelona will instead look to restore its eight-point lead over Madrid when it hosts Espanyol in the Catalan capital derby.
"The longer it takes Barcelona to win the league, the better," said Ronaldo. "We have to win all the games we can without thinking about Barcelona."
All of Spain's topflight matches — except for the game at Sevilla — began after a minute's silence in memory of Seve Ballesteros, the Spanish golf great who died in the early morning.
Sevilla was completely outclassed at Sanchez Pizjuan stadium and failed to manage a single shot on goal before halftime.
"Against this team the danger is to become desperate and leave spaces behind, that is one of their virtues," said Sevilla coach Gregorio Manzano, who also asked Sevilla's fans for their forgiveness for his team's poor performance.
Madrid showed none of the struggles in attack that led to its elimination by Barcelona from the semifinals of the Champions League earlier this week, with the exhausting four-game series between the two Spanish giants finally having drawn to a close.
Jose Mourinho's team wasted no time in taking out its European frustrations on Sevilla with an attacking starting 11 that included Mesut Oezil and Karim Benzema up front along with Ronaldo and Kaka.
"After the Champions League we wanted to get a good result and that's what we did," Ronaldo said.
Ramos converted Madrid's dominance into the 21st-minute opener when the Spain defender rose up above the scrum of defenders to head in Oezil's corner. Ronaldo then doubled the lead in the 31st when Pepe headed down a pass from Marcelo for the Portuguese star to fire in from inside the area.
Three minutes before the break, Kaka paused on the edge of the area before picking his spot in the right corner of the net with a curling right-footer to beat goalkeeper Javi Varas.
Negredo scored with a low strike in the 61st, but Ronaldo finished off three breakaways in the 65th, 70th and 75th minutes.
Negredo headed in his 15th goal of the season in the 84th.
"Even though, of course, the situation is very complicated, this was a game to show our pride," said Ramos. "I hope we can continue in this line and carry it over to next season."
Elsewhere, two goals by Giovani dos Santos and one by Henrique gave Racing Santander a 3-2 win against Hercules as Santander mourned the death of Ballesteros, one of its most illustrious sons.
Hercules captain Francisco Pena placed a bunch of flowers on the center of the field next to a pair of golf clubs before the match, and Racing players emerged from the dressing room with a golf cart bearing a club jersey and a slogan saying "Seve forever."
Hercules is in 19th place in the 20-club league.
Malaga won its fourth straight match, beating Atletico Madrid 3-0 after goals from Jose Rondon, Baptista and substitute Enzo Maresca.
Rondon has scored 14 goals this season, while Baptista has netted six in the last three weeks.
Getafe ensured last-place Almeria's relegation to the second division with a 2-0 win thanks to goals by forward Adrian Colunga and midfielder Pedro Rios.
Valencia secured its grip on third place by beating Real Sociedad 3-0.
Joaquin scored in the 16th minute. Brazilian forward Jonas beat goalkeeper Claudio Bravo in the 25th to double the lead, and Roberto Soldado found the net with a powerful header in the 37th minute for his 10th goal in the past six matches.
Athletic Bilbao defeated Levante 3-2, while Deportivo La Coruna drew 2-2 against Sporting Gijon.
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