Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Cristiano Ronaldo scored a second successive hat trick at the Bernabeu on Saturday as Real Madrid cruised to a 5-1 victory over Real Sociedad.
Ronaldo put away three goals in Madrid's 7-3 home victory against Sevilla last weekend, and he turned in another dominant performance on Saturday with goals in the 12th, 27th and 76th minutes.
The win moves Madrid to within three points of leaders Barcelona and two back of Atletico Madrid.
Ronaldo nearly opened the scoring in the seventh minute when his 25-yard strike hit the crossbar, although he found the net five minutes later after bringing down a cross from Karim Benzema and beating goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
The duo hooked up once again six minutes later but this time it was Ronaldo that played provider as he pulled the ball back for Benzema to knock home.
It was 3-0 to Madrid midway through the half when a shot from Ronaldo struck the arm of Sociedad's Markel Bergara inside the area, allowing the Portugal international to fire home his second goal from the spot.
Sami Kherdira got in on the act before halftime and he scored his first goal of the season after being set up by Gareth Bale to stretch the lead to 4-0 at the break for the hosts.
Antoine Griezmann spoiled the clean sheet with a goal in the 61st for the visitors, but Ronaldo completed his hat trick in the 76th with a well-taken 25-yard free kick.
Elche earned a 1-1 draw at Getafe as Richmond Boakye scored the equalizer in the 61st minute to cancel out Pedro Leon's first-half opener for Getafe, Aritz Aduriz scored the winning goal in the 83rd minute of Athletic Bilbao's 2-1 win over Levante and Rayo Vallecano moved off the foot of the table and out of the bottom three with a 2-0 win at Celta Vigo.
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