Barcelona hit Getafe for six after Ronaldo hits Sevilla for three
MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were both among the goals yet again as Real Madrid and Barcelona both warmed up in perfect fashion for the coming week’s Champions League challengers.
Today Messi struck Barcelona’s second, in only the 13th minute, as the Spanish league leaders Barcelona thrashed Getafe 6-1.
That goal took Messi on to and pacesetting 35 for the league season already with the others coming from Alexis Sanchez, David Villa, Cristian Tello, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique. The last two goals came in stoppage time. Alvaro scored Getafe’s consolation.
On Saturday night R0naldo laid on the opening goal for Karim Benzema then scored the rest himself for the 21st hat-trick of his career and his 17th in La Liga. He has scored 24 league goals this term.
Both teams finished with 10 men. Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain and Sevilla’s Hedwiges Maduro were both sent off for a second yellow card. Substitute Manu del Moral pulled a goal back for the Andalusians three minutes from time.
In France Saint-Etienne coped better than Montpellier with a frozen pitch and two snow disruptions to beat the champions 4-1 at home.
Heavy snowfall caused a 13-minute delay to the start of the second half as officials, helped by Saint-Etienne substitutes, cleaned the lines and painted them red.
Then play was stopped for 32 minutes in the 65th minute with Saint-Etienne leading 3-1 after goals from Brazilian striker Brandao, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Yoann Mollo. The home side added a fourth goal, from Mathieu Bodmer, when the game resumed to climb to fourth in the table.
In Germany runaway leaders Bayern Munich thrashed Schalke 4-0 with two goals from David Alaba to open a 15-point gap at the top of the Bundesliga over champions Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen.
Left back Alaba scored either side of a sensational Bastian Schweinsteiger free kick with Mario Gomez, starting ahead of top scorer Mario Mandzukic, grabbing the fourth as Bayern made it four successive wins this year without conceding a goal.
In Holland Wilfried Bony marked his return from African Nations Cup duty with Ivory Coast by scoring two goals as Vitesse Arnhem held leaders PSV Eindhoven 2-2.
In Italy leaders and champions Juventus moved five points clear after beating Fiorentina 2-0 while closest challengers Napoli scored a late goal to snatch a 1-1 draw at Lazio.
First-half goals from Mirko Vucinic and Alessandro Matri in Turin took Juventus to 55 points, with Napoli six points ahead of third-placed Lazio after Hugo Campagnaro struck an 87th-minute equaliser to earn a point at the Stadio Olympico.
Vucinic opened up for side after 20 minutes, capitalising on Facundo Roncaglia’s poor defensive header. Matri doubled their lead four minutes before halftime after Arturo Vidal eluded four Fiorentina players and provided the assist.
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