Ronaldo fires Real, Barca hot
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi scored twice as Ronaldo's Real Madrid rallied to beat promoted Hercules 3-1 and Messi's Barcelona humbled 10-man Sevilla 5-0 in La Liga on Saturday.
Portuguese forward Ronaldo, who lost his World Player of the Year crown to current holder Messi, has now netted an incredible 10 goals in his last four league outings to take his season's tally to 11.
After scoring four against Racing Santander last weekend following braces against Malaga and Deportivo la Coruna, he struck two late goals at Alicante-based Hercules to keep Real at the top of the standings with 23 points from nine matches.
Argentina forward Messi grabbed his sixth and seventh of the season, Spain striker David Villa scored twice and ex-Sevilla player Daniel Alves netted one as Barca kept the gap to Real to one point.
Valencia's poor run continued when it was held to a 1-1 draw at home by struggling Real Zaragoza earlier on Saturday, while Villarreal can draw level with Barca on 22 points with a win at Sporting Gijon yesterday.
Hercules stunned Barca 2-0 at the Nou Camp in September and looked poised to pull off a second upset of the season when it took a shock lead over Real in the third minute at its Jose Rico Perez stadium.
Former France striker David Trezeguet, who turned 33 in October, met a David Cortes center and sent a superb header past Iker Casillas.
With an annual budget of around 40 million euros (US$56 million), Hercules has about a 10th of Real's resources but it was able to frustrate Jose Mourinho's expensively assembled side until seven minutes after halftime.
Juan Calatayud fumbled a long-range Ronaldo effort and Angel Di Maria fired in the rebound.
The hosts looked like holding on for a deserved point until the 82nd when Marcelo drove in from the left and Ronaldo was on hand to sidefoot home the rebound from Karim Benzema's shot. Ronaldo grabbed his second four minutes later when Benzema pulled the ball back and he drove it past Calatayud.
Barca came roaring out of the blocks at the Nou Camp in the late kickoff and Messi put the champion ahead in the fourth before Villa curled in a sublime second in the 24th.
Sevilla defender Abdoulay Konko was shown a second yellow card and dismissed shortly before halftime and Brazilian fullback Alves put Barca three ahead against his old club eight minutes into the second period.
Messi sent a precise low shot past stand-in keeper Javi Varas for Barca's fourth in the 64th and Villa wrapped things in the 90th.
