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| Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, right, fires his penalty over the bar while the Sevilla goalkeeper, Sergio Rico, watches in mid-dive |
Real Madrid capitalised on slip-ups from Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to close the gap at the top of La Liga with a 4-0 win over Sevilla on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty but eventually got on the score sheet as Real Madrid cut the gap to their neighbours Atlético in second place in La Liga to one point after beating Sevilla 4-0 at the Bernabéu on Sunday.
The margin of victory slightly flattered Real because Sevilla had their chances. Kévin Gameiro missed a penalty for them in the first half with the score at 1-0 and the visitors had an equalising goal wrongly ruled out in the second half, just after Ronaldo had missed from the spot.
Madrid remained third in the table, 10 points behind the leaders Barcelona, whom they face in their next league game at Camp Nou on 2 April, while Sevilla slipped to sixth place.
Sevilla started brightly and had two attempts in the first five minutes but Madrid responded by taking the lead. After a run on the right Gareth Bale found Karim Benzema near the penalty spot and the French striker scored with a half-volley high into the net.
Real continued to press and a Bale shot was turned on to the post by Sergio Rico. A minute later the Wales international flicked a Ronaldo header into the net from close range but was incorrectly ruled offside.
Rico then made two more brilliant saves, first denying Benzema and then Ronaldo, but a moment later Sevilla should have been level. Raphaël Varane was spotted tugging the shirt of Adil Rami while trying to defend a set piece but from the resulting penalty Keylor Navas parried Gameiro’s kick, his third penalty save of the campaign.
Ronaldo, too, missed from the spot in the second half after José Antonio Reyes was penalised for tripping Luka Modric in the area, but the Portuguese fired over.
Bale then headed on to the bar from a corner but a minute later Sevilla looked to have punished Madrid for their wastefulness when Gameiro latched on to a long ball and shot past Navas, but the Frenchman was wrongly ruled offside.
Ronaldo then struck, arriving at the far post to knock in a low pass from Danilo before Bale turned in Benzema’s chipped pass from inside the six-yard area. Jese completed the scoring as injury time approached, finishing off a one-two with his fellow substitute James Rodríguez.
