Result: Cristiano Ronaldo treble downs Sevilla

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring against Sevilla on February 9, 2013
© AP Photos
Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a hat-trick as Real Madrid thumped Sevilla 4-1 in La Liga this evening.

The home side had the better of the early possession and edged their noses in front in the 18th minute after their opponents failed to deal with Ronaldo's low cross, allowing Karim Benzema to tap home.

It was 2-0 less than 10 minutes later courtesy of a brilliant solo strike from Ronaldo, the Portuguese international swerving two defenders before thumping the ball past Beto into the bottom corner.

Sevilla's best chance of the first half came in the 35th minute when Jose Antonio Reyes struck one towards goal after collecting a pass from Jesus Navas, forcing a save out of Diego Lopez.

The second half started with a bang. A catastrophic error from Federico Fazio gifted the ball to Ronaldo inside the box and the forward made no mistake from close range.

The former Manchester United ace completed his hat-trick just before the hour mark, tapping in Gonzalo Higuain's pin-point cross to hammer another nail in Sevilla's coffin.

It didn't all go Madrid's way. Higuain was red-carded in the 66th minute for a foul on Coke Andujar, having picked up a caution for a handball earlier in the game.

Sevilla also finished the game with 10 men after Hedwiges Maduro was given his marching orders for a dangerous challenge on Michael Essien to dump more misery on Unai Emery's side.

The visitors did pull one back through Manu del Moral with two minutes left on the clock, but it proved to be little consolation for the travelling supporters.
Tables
TeamPGDPTS
CBarcelona3875100
2Real Madrid386185
3Atletico Madrid383476
4Real Sociedad382166
5Valencia381365
6Malaga38357
7Real Betis38156
8Rayo Vallecano38-1653
9Sevilla38450
10Getafe38-1447
11Levante38-1746
12Athletic Bilbao38-2145
13Espanyol38-944
14Real Valladolid38-943
15Granada38-1742
16Osasuna38-1739
17Celta Vigo38-1537
RMallorca38-2936
RDeportivo La Coruna38-2335
RReal Zaragoza38-2534