Ronaldo injury mars Real Madrid goal-fest against Malaga

Real Madrid crushed Malaga with a 7-0 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu, but it was marred by an injury to their star player Cristiano Ronaldo who walked off immediately after his scoring his third.

The victory cut the top-two gap back to seven points after Barcelona had won on 1-0 at Valencia with Lionel Messi on the scoresheet.

Ronaldo scored his hat-trick in 32 second half minutes, although he injured himself while scoring the third and had to stop playing. It left Madrid with 10 men as they had used all their substitutes, though it was of little concern as they were leading 7-0 and Malaga were already a man down after Gaspar was sent off for a second bookable offence.

It was Madrid's biggest victory under Mourinho's rule. Karim Benzema, preferred to January signing Emmanuel Adebayor, opened the scoring with a well-taken volley in the 27th minute. The lead gave Madrid the license to go up and bombard the visitors, and Mesut Ozil was unfortunate not to score with a direct free kick in the 29th minute which bounced back off the post.

However, Madrid didn't dwell on the miss and soon scored their second when Angel Di Maria raced onto Marcelo's cross and slotted past the keeper. Di Maria then returned the favor at the stroke of half-time, delicately chipping a ball to Marcelo who scored on the half-volley.

Madird started the second half as they had ended the first as Malaga were pinned back trying to restrict the Madrid onslaught. Ronaldo got his first on 51 minutes before Benzema added his second on 62 minutes with an easy header at the far post from Marcelo's cross.

Gaspar then held out his arm in the box to block Marcelo's cross earning him a second yellow on the 67th minute and Ronaldo slammed home from the spot for his second.

His hat-trick came 10 minutes later when he diverted Sergio Canales' cross, but that was his last contribution to the game as he left the pitch. The goal put him level with Lionel Messi at the top of the top-scorers chart with 27 league goals this season.

With the most crucial phase of the season coming up, Madrid will be hoping it isn't serious.