Real Madrid beat Levante to move 10 clear in Spain

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　　Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick that cemented his side's position at the top of the table.

　　Madrid's win coupled with Barca's 3-2 defeat away to Osasuna on Saturday night means it would need a disaster for Jose Mourinho's side to lose their grip on the title and given that Madrid have dropped just eight points all season, it is hard to imagine such a disaster occurring.

　　Three of those eight points were dropped away to Levante earlier in the season, but the Levante side that took to the pitch in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium was much changed to that which defeated Madrid earlier in the campaign.

　　Jose Barkero and Juanlu have suffered long-term injuries, while key defender¹ Nano has moved to China and left back Juanfran Torres was also missing with a muscle problem.

　　All that meant Levante had taken just three points from their last six league games, while the last time Madrid failed to win was against Barcelona early in December.

　　Madrid have developed a habit of conceding early goals and it was no different against Levante as some poor defending allowed visiting defender Cabral to head home from close range after five minutes.

　　From then on it was a Madrid monologue² with Levante keeper Gustavo Munua denying Madrid with a series of saves.

　　Gonzalo Higuain was denied twice by the keeper, who also flew to save a swirling³ Ronaldo free kick and got down to save from Karim Benzema as Madrid dominated the game.

　　Madrid had a let off after 38 minutes when Sergio Ramos should have been sent off for kicking at Asier del Horno in an off the ball incident. Referee⁴ Undiano Mallenco saw what happened, but only booked the Madrid defender.

　　Madrid got back into the game in the last minute of the half from the penalty spot. Iborra misjudged and handled a ball in the area and Undiano gave a penalty before sending off Iborra for a second yellow card, before Ronaldo converted the penalty to level the score.

　　Ronaldo scored twice more in the first 13 minutes of the second period to assure the three points. His first was a header following a fine cross from Higuain, while his third of the night was a stunning⁵ shot from outside of the penalty area that dipped and swirled⁶ over the helpless Munua.

　　That should have sealed the win, but Aruna Kone took advantage of some slack defending to head home Levante's second goal after 63 minutes, but Benzema wasted no time in making it 4-2 with a lovely curling shot into the far corner of the net.

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