CRISTIANO Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to an entertaining 6-2 victory over Villarreal last night that moved them two points behind leaders Barcelona in La Liga.
The Portuguese forward was a constant threat throughout and led the way with a thunderous free-kick 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 free-kick in the 30th minute, Ronaldo set up Gonzalo Higuain for the third after the restart.
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 on Monday, 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.
Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente scored from the penalty spot before 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 defeated Espanyol 2-1 and Osasuna drew 1-1 with Real Valladolid while inconsistent Atletico Madrid went down 1-0 to a late goal at Almeria.
