19 May 2012, 19:25 | Category: News | 169 hits.

Relaxed   Wins   Spanish   Giants   Barcelona   Real  

Sunday saw relaxed wins in the Spanish Liga for twin giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Barca kept top spot by thrashing Real Sociedad 5-0 at home, while Real enjoyed an easy 3-1 win at bottom team Zaragoza.

Lionel Messi scored two for Barca, and Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed one for Real. Ronaldo has scored 18 league goals, with Messi on 17.

Once again, the Big Two have converted the battle for the league title into a two-horse race, and the distance between them and the rest grows every weekend.

Barca now have 40 points from 15 games, trailed by Real on 38.

In third place, with 30 points, are Villarreal, who crashed 1-0 on Saturday at Getafe. In fourth place on 28 are surprise package Espanyol, who lost 2-1 on Sunday in Bilbao.

Pablo Osvualdo gave Espanyol an early lead, but Bilbao turned the tables on them thanks to late goals from Fernando Llorente and David Lopez.

Valencia, who are fifth on 24, will be at home to Osasuna on Monday, which will give them a chance to get closer to Espanyol.

Barca are in formidable form at the moment and have won nine matches consecutively. They went ahead against poor Sociedad after just nine minutes, when Pedro centred for Villa to make it 1-0 with his left foot.

Man-of-the-match Pedro then set up Andres Iniesta for the second goal with a fierce near-post drive, which took Sociedad keeper Claudio Bravo by surprise.

As usual, Barca resembled a team of talented schoolboys playing for the fun of it, trying to improve with every match and still not sure just how good a side they can become.

The one-way traffic continued after the interval, and Messi made it 3-0 in the 47th minute after an exquisite one-two with Dani Alves.

The over-worked Sociedad defence predictably fell apart at the end, after 85 minutes of torture. Messi made it 4-0 with a classy solo goal, and supersub Bojan completed the rout after Bravo had saved his first shot.

Barca have broken recent records by scoring 46 goals and conceding only eight.

Earlier Sunday, Real had few problems in Zaragoza. They lack the panache and swagger of Barca but are lethal on the break when given time and space.

Mesut Oezil, Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria scored the goals for Jose Mourinho's team, who intend to keep up with Barca until the very end.

Oezil opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a calm, low, left-foot shot, after being well set up by left-back Marcelo.

One minute before half time Ronaldo made it 2-0 with one of his trademark free-kicks, which veteran keeper Leo Franco didn't even move to stop. Ronaldo now has 18 goals to his name, three more than Barca's Lionel Messi.

Real came out for the second half determined to finish the game off, and they did so within three minutes with a third goal. Xabi Alonso played Di Maria through perfectly, and the Argentine winger made it 3-0 with a clever left-foot lob.

In the 53rd minute, Real defender Ricardo Carvalho pulled down Nicolas Bertolo for a clear penalty, which Gabi calmly transformed to make it 3-1. But troubled Zaragoza never looked capable of turning the match around, and Real played out time without any trouble at all.

New Zaragoza coach Javier Aguirre said: "We were easy prey today because of our nerves. They are a very good team indeed."

One team that was capable of coming from behind at home was Hercules, who thrashed lowly Malaga 4-1.

Racing Santander, meanwhile, won 1-0 at Mallorca thanks to a solitary strike from veteran Oscar Serrano.

Sunday's other early game was a 1-1 draw between strugglers Sporting Gijon and Levante.

Gijon are second from bottom with 11 points, two more than Zaragoza. Then come Malaga and Almeria on 13, followed by Levante and Osasuna on 15.