Cristiano
Ronaldo scored four second-half goals to become the second all-time
leading scorer in La Liga as Real Madrid routed Celta Vigo 7-1 on
Saturday.
Ronaldo's
haul gave him 252 career goals according to the league, surpassing
Telmo Zarra's mark of 251 goals that had stood as a record until
Barcelona star Lionel Messi passed that milestone in 2014.
Messi's
hat trick in a 5-1 win at Rayo Vallecano on Thursday took his leading
tally to 305.
After
Pepe put Madrid ahead before halftime, Ronaldo scored with a long
blast. He added another goal from a free kick, tapped in a short
cross, and headed home a corner kick.
Jese
Rodriguez and Gareth Bale completed the demolition of a Celta side
that held its own before halftime but fell apart in the second half.
Besides
surpassing Zarra's mark for Athletic Bilbao from 1955, Ronaldo also
passed Barcelona's Luis Suarez as the league top scorer for the
season. Ronaldo has 27 goals to Suarez's 25.
Madrid
remained in third place and a provisional nine points behind leader
Barcelona, which visits Eibar on Sunday, when second-place Atletico
Madrid also visits Valencia.
Disqualified
from the Copa del Rey and its Liga title hopes all but gone, Madrid
turns back to its most realistic chance to salvage the season when it
hosts Roma on Tuesday in the Champions League round of 16, holding a
2-0 advantage.
"Ronaldo
is one of a kind," Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. "I
never scored four goals. It's important that he scores heading into
the Champions League."
Elsewhere,
Las Palmas ended fourth-place Villarreal's 14-round unbeaten streak
with a 1-0 away win, dropping the host seven points behind Madrid.
David Garcia's header on the half-hour mark helped the Canary Island
club edge away from the relegation zone with a third consecutive
victory.
Fifth-place
Sevilla stayed winless on the road this season after conceding a late
goal in a 1-1 draw at Getafe, which broke a streak of seven losses.
Ever Banega's free kick put Sevilla ahead late, only for Emiliano
Velazquez to level with four minutes left.
Madrid's
big win over sixth-place Celta came at a perfect time, as Madrid was
jeered by the same Santiago Bernabeu Stadium fans the previous
weekend after a 1-0 loss to Atletico.
That
defeat ended with Ronaldo criticizing his teammates, opening the
first squad crisis that Zidane had to publicly quell.
"Nobody
can doubt Cristiano," said Madrid forward Lucas Vazquez, who
started along with 18-year-old striker Borja Mayoral in place of the
injured Karim Benzema. "You have to congratulate him. Today
there wasn't any friction and I didn't hear any jeers."
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