Ronaldo treble as Madrid thrash Osasuna

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a superb hat-trick as Real Madrid thrashed Osasuna 7-1 to increase their lead at the top of the Spanish La Liga to three points following Barcelona’s surprise 2-2 draw at Athletic Bilbao.

Osasuna came into the match at the Bernabeu in good spirits after ending Levante’s unbeaten record last weekend, but they were always up against it after Ronaldo headed home Angel di Maria’s 22nd-minute cross.

Although the visitors levelled through a Ibrahima Balde free-kick eight minutes later, Madrid soon re-took the lead when defender Pepe glanced home another di Maria cross.

Gonzalo Higuain curled home Madrid’s third on the stroke of half-time and Ronaldo made it 4-1 with a 54th minute penalty, following a foul by Eneko Satrustegui which resulted in a second yellow card.

The Portuguese international completed his hat-trick with a header three minutes later and Karim Benzema came off the substitutes’ bench to add two further goals as Madrid made it 10 successive win in some style.

Champions Barca remain unbeaten, but they have now drawn four of their 11 league matches and they had Argentine maestro Lionel Messi to thank for earning a late point in rain-sodden Bilbao.

Ander Herrara put the hosts ahead with a fine curling strike only for Cesc Fabregas to quickly level matters with a superb header from Eric Abidal’s cross.

Then, with 10 minutes remaining, Abidal’s clearance eventually found the Barca net off Gerard Pique to hand Bilbao the advantage.

But, in injury time, Messi took advantage of some hesitancy in the home defense to claim a vital equalizer.

It means Real lead the way on 28 points, with Barcelona on 25 and Valencia just a further point behind on 24.

Meanwhile, in the English Premier League, Tottenham withstood repeated pressure from the home side to win 2-1 at Fulham to maintain their status among the league leaders.

Gareth Bale opened the scoring in the 10th minute from an acute angle and Aaron Lennon doubled their lead with a fine individual effort just before half-time.

Younes Kaboul put through his own net from a corner to reduce the arrears and Fulham wasted a host of chances to level, before Jermain Defoe secured the three points with a deflected shot in injury time.

The result keeps Tottenham in fifth position in the table, level on points with Chelsea but with a game in hand. However, both clubs are still nine points behind runaway leaders Manchester City.

At the other end of the table, Wigan stay bottom of the table after a 3-1 defeat at Wolves, while Chris Eagles and Ivan Klasnic both scored twice as Bolton thrashed Stoke 5-0.

That result lifted Bolton above Blackburn into third bottom and went some away to avenging their 5-0 FA Cup semifinal defeat by Stoke last season.