Barcelona raced to their ninth consecutive victory last night with a comfortable 4-0 home victory against Andalucian strugglers Almeria. Almost inevitably Lionel Messi was on the scoresheet as he curled in his 33rd goal of the season in the 33rd minute but although Barca dominated the half they couldn’t add to the scoreline and led by the solitary goal at half-time. However, the result was never in doubt and three second half goals courtesy of Luis Suarez (2) and Marc Bartra sealed the win.
So going into last night’s late kick-off away at city neighbours Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid trailed Barcelona by 7 points…
Like most local derbies this was a tight and at times feisty affair with Rayo enjoying the majority of possession and shots on target. However, a brilliant run and cross by Dani Carvajal in the 68th minute found the head of Ronaldo 8 yards out and he rarely misses from that range. In putting the ball past the helpless Rayo keeper Ronaldo was scoring his 300th goal for Real Madrid on only his 288th appearance. He now joins the list of two illustrious Madrid legends, Alfredo Di Stefano (307 goals in 396 games) and Raul (323 in 741 games) in reaching this landmark tally. Real made sure of the victory just 5 minutes later when James Rodriguez scored a lovely left footed effort from the edge of the area to make the final scoreline 2-0 to Madrid.
With 8 games remaining Barcelona still head Real by 4 points with both teams playing their next La Liga fixture on Saturday – Barca are away at Sevilla (20:00) and Real at home to Eibar (16:00). Don’t miss it!