Madrid: Real Madrid emphatically sent a message to title rivals Barcelona following their 6-1 demolition of Racing Santander on Saturday evening.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his blistering form as he bagged four goals, while Gonzalo Higuain and Mesut Ozil netted also netted for Jose Mourinho’s side. Racing did get a consolation when a Papa Kouli Diop shot wickedly deflected off Markus Rosenberg's back late in the game.
Real Madrid started the match in stunning fashion, dominating the visitors from the off and they took the lead after 10 minutes as Higuain broke the offside trap to latch onto a brilliant cross field ball from Angel Di Maria before he slotted the ball past Racing keeper Tono.
It wasn't long before Madrid were two up, as Alvaro Arbeloa played a delightful ball down the right side for Higuain, who fired in an early cross, which Ronaldo raced onto and smashed home from close range.
The game was a stroll for the home side as the visitors struggled to cope with their crisp passing and movement.
As a contest, the game was over after 27 minutes as Ronaldo netted his second of the match. Oezil was released on the right side and he slipped the ball to the onrushing Portuguese forward who was left with a simple finish.
To their credit, Racing looked to get into the match and were having some joy against Marcelo, though on many occasions they were crowded out as they were reluctant to throw too many men forward.
As the whistle blew for the start of the second half, Madrid did not give Racing any breathing space and left their opponents shell shocked as the fourth goal came only two minutes after the restart.
Di Maria drove down the right side and made his way into the box before laying the ball to Ronaldo who had time to trap the ball, turn and shoot from close range for this hat-trick.
It got worse for Racing and Domingo Cisma in particular when he tripped Di Maria to give away a penalty kick. Ronaldo stepped up and made it five for the hosts and four for his personal tally.
Number six came just on the hour mark when Ozil picked the ball up in the Racing half from a Xabi Alonso through pass. Running at the defence, the German cut onto this left foot and from the edge of the area curled a shot into the corner of the next.
Racing did grab a consolation goal when Diop smashed a long range shot towards goal and it smacked off Rosenberg's back which diverted the ball into an empty net passed a hapless Iker Casillas.
The win takes Real Madrid back to the top of La Liga one point ahead of their rivals Barcelona, who took the lead for a couple of hours following their win against Real Zaragoza on Saturday afternoon.
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