Cristiano Ronaldo four ahead of Lionel Messi in Pichichi race after five-goal haul against Granada
Monday 6 April 2015 15:08, UK
Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals for the first time for Real Madrid - and moved clear of Lionel Messi in the La Liga goalscoring race.
The World Player of the Year was in imperious form as he bagged a first-half hat-trick on the way to scoring five goals in Real's 9-1 demolition of lowly Granada.
It turned out to be a record-breaking afternoon of sorts for Ronaldo who will now have individual accolades firmly in his sight, in addition to team honours, come the end of the season.
Here's a look at the latest staggering Ronaldo numbers:
Ronaldo scored five goals for the first time since his then-world record transfer from Manchester United to the Bernabeu in 2009.
The Portuguese star's hat-trick came in eight first-half minutes - the quickest treble during his six years at the club.
Having scored four in Real's 5-1 victory over Elche in September, Ronaldo's five-goal haul on Sunday saw him score four goals or more on more than one occasion in the same season for the first time.
And, perhaps crucially for the Portugese international, Sunday's glut moved him to 36 league goals this season - four ahead of rival Lionel Messi in the race for the 'Pichichi' top goalscorer prize.
Those 36 goals mean he nets a La Liga goal every 64 minutes - his best ratio.
Ronaldo has now scored 300 goals in 287 games for Real Madrid; only Alfredo Di Stefano with 308 goals in 396 games and Raul Gonzalez with 323 in 741 have more goals in club history.
Revista de la Liga guest and former Spain international Marcelino was full of praise for Ronaldo’s ruthless display but warned he expects long-term sparring partner Messi to respond on Sunday night.
“Ronaldo is always hungry to score goals,” he said. “We were saying at half time, he smells blood and wants another one.
“He detected that today was a good day to add a few more goals for him in the race with Lionel Messi, and he’s put five on his record which is great for him."
“From the outside we may think they are not interested in the race for the Pichichi, and that they want to win the title, but it’s quite obvious that there is a reaction.
“When one scores a few goals the other one puts in a few more goals for themselves. It could have been Ronaldo 10-1 Granada today.
“He had a few chances and its significant how much he tries. He could have saved his legs for the next game, but he was kept on the pitch and he added to his numbers.”
Messi had a chance to pull closer to his foe later on on Sunday but failed to fire against Celta Vigo, Jeremy Mathieu with matchwinning goal for Barcelona.
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