Real Madrid will remain 4 points on top of Barcelona in La Liga, after beating Atletico Madrid in the Vicente Calderón, by 1-4. Cristiano Ronaldo reached the 52 goals mark this season (in all competitions) and his 40th goal in La Liga, after scoring a tremendously important hat-trick this Wednesday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo rescued Real Madrid at the Vicente Calderón this Wednesday night, with an outstanding hat-trick that allowed the Merengues to get past Atletico Madrid by 1-4. However, those who may have missed the game and simply look at the final score, can very well get the wrong idea that Real Madrid had an easy task in bringing the 3 points home. Aletico's coach, Diego Simeone, presented a strong and fighting side, which has only been beaten due to an impressive performance from Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese phenomenon added 3 goals and 1 assist to his count and leads once again La Liga Pichichi standings, with 40 goals out of 32 games! Barça's Lionel Messi was left behind in 2nd place, having scored 39 goals so far.
Last night's game being held at the Vicente Calderón, was seen by many as a critical one for Real Madrid, in their road for La Liga's title this season. With Barcelona putting additional pressure after winning this Tuesday's game against Getafe by 4-0, the gap was suddendly cut to a single point and all this happening just 10 days before the "Clasico" in the Camp Nou. The occasion was calling for heroes and men of character to step up and that's what we've all witnessed last night. Cristiano Ronaldo managed to excel expectations, by scoring an hat-trick (his first since the 12th of February, in a 4-2 win against Levante) and assisting Callejón for his team's final goal. Moreover, Ronaldo goals included a trademark tomahawk free-kick, a beautiful long-range shot and a penalty-kick, which are once again, a great example of how versatile the Portuguese player really is.
The first goal took place near the 25th minute and who else but Cristiano Ronaldo to score the opener. The free-kick was ruled close to 30 meters away from goal, certainly a distance that might discourage most free-kick specialists this game has already seen. As for Ronaldo and when he manages to hit the target, it's almost like half penalty. The Portuguese star applied one of his tradermark tomahawks and Courtois couldn't even dive to the ball, as he got completely fooled and deceived by the ball's trajectory. Real Madrid had taken the lead, but wasn't necessarily on top of Atletico during that stage of the game.
Half-time reached with a 1 goal advantage for Real Madrid and surely the feeling that things were about to get more complicated in the 2nd half, if they failed to extend the lead. That was precisely what happened, as Atletico Madrid got the equalizer around the 55th minute of the game, inevitably by Radamel Falcao and from a good header already inside Real Madrid's penalty area.
The Merengues reaction took some time as it has never been easy to breach into Atletico Madrid's back line. Despite all difficulties, Real Madrid retook the lead and it had to be the club's best player, Cristiano Ronaldo, to point the way once again. It all happened near the 68th minute, when Ronaldo received a ball on the left and cutted inside, just before striking a powerful dip shot. Similarly to the 1st goal, and even though Courtouis is 1,94m, he couldn't stop the ball from getting in. The crowd at the Vicente Calderón was starting to be aware of the one-man-show performance from CR7 this Wednesday night.
Atletico didn't exactly gave up after Real Madrid scored their second goal of the night and increased the pace in the following minutes by really forcing Real Madrid to struggle, in order to keep the lead. The reaction lasted a few minutes, until Sorín pushed Gonzalo Higuaín on his back, already inside Atletico's penalty area. Cristiano Ronaldo assumed the responsability and didn't shake at all, completing his hat-trick, as well as his 40th goal in La Liga this season and his 52nd when accounting for all competitions.
There would still be enough time for Real Madrid's 4th goal this Wednesday night, not from Ronaldo though, but from Callejón. The Portuguese player didn't score this time but assisted his teammate, for a 1-on-1 situation with Courtois, who couldn't stop a crossed right-foot strike from the Spanish winger. With this crucial victory, Real Madrid restored their 4 points from Barcelona, just 2 games and 10 days away from the visit to Camp Nou. With still 6 games left in La Liga we can all rest assured that we're going to watch both teams fighting until the end!
Is it fair to say that there is a "Cristiano Ronaldo dependency" in Real Madrid? The Portuguese player single-handedly destroyed Atletico Madrid this last Wednesday, as he unblocked a game that has been far from an easy task for the Merengues. The timing couldn't have been better, since a derby will always be a derby and with a Clasico against Bracelona just around the corner, Real Madrid simply couldn't afford to drop more points. The Merengues upcoming games include a home clash against Sporting Gijon this next Saturday (12/04/2012), a trip to Munich to face Bayern next Tuesday (17/04/2012) for the UEFA Champions League first leg, and finally the decisive visit to to Camp Nou, four days after, in the following Saturday (21/04/2012).
If there's a type of statement that most Real Madrid fans appreciate hearing from their club players, that's preceisly the one granted from Ronaldo after his hat-trick in the 1-4 away win at the Vicente Calderón. The Portuguese player's words might however seem a bit contrasting with a few gestures and celebrations he often shows on the pitch and that may have been leading a good amount of people to think that all Ronaldo cares about is his personal glory. Apparently, they couldn't be more wrong...
Cristiano Ronaldo: "I have to thank my teammates, because without them, I certainly wouldn't be able to score these goals. I'm not seeking personal records, but rather trophies for the club!", said the Real Madrid star player after his brilliant game against Atletico Madrid. Last season Ronaldo scored 53 in all competitions for Real Madrid and he's already one goal away from that mark, with still a minimum of 8 games left to be played (six in La Liga and at least two in the UEFA Champions League).
The Portuguese player also shared his view on how hard the game against Atletico Madrid actually was and gave voice to his delight for playing an important role on his team's victory. Cristiano Ronaldo: "It's true that we were all aware that this game was going to be very difficult. Atletico Madrid played really well and with a great intensity. I'm truly happy for having helped, by scoring and assisting for goal", confessed the man leading the Pichichi standings, with 40 goals in 32 games.
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