Ronaldo dares Barca to put eight past Real
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Cristiano Ronaldo challenged Barcelona to try and score eight goals past his Real Madrid side when asked for his views on the champion's earlier 8-0 thrashing of Almeria in La Liga on Saturday.
The Portugal forward scored a hat-trick in his side's 5-1 hammering of Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabeu, taking his tally for the season to 14, one ahead of Lionel Messi in the La Liga goalscoring charts.
The Argentine World Player of the Year had netted a hat-trick in Barcelona's romp over struggling Almeria, but Ronaldo was less than impressed with its efforts when questioned by Spanish television pitchside at the Bernabeu.
"(The 8-0 win) It doesn't tell me anything," Ronaldo said. "Let's see if they score eight against us on Monday."
"I'm pleased to have scored but the most important thing is that the team won. I'm fighting to win the league. The top scorer's award isn't important to me."
Unbeaten Real (32 points), for whom Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Ramos also scored, travels to face second-placed Barcelona on November 29 with a one-point advantage over the champion.
Barcelona's victory over Almeria - with substitute Bojan Krkic scoring twice, Andres Iniesta and Pedro bagging one apiece and Santiago Acasiete netting an own goal - equaled its record away win achieved in 1959, when it won by the same scoreline in Las Palmas, but coach Pep Guardiola refused to read too much into the result with Real its next opponent in the league.
"We didn't look to send a warning out to anyone here today," Guardiola told reporters. "We played to a great level as we have in other games. In the first half (when Barcelona scored five) we had the same number of occasions as in other games, and today we put them away."
The victory led to the swift sacking of Almeria coach Juan Manuel Lillo.
The top two opened up a seven-point lead over third-placed Villarreal which drew 1-1 at home with local rival Valencia, which is fourth with 21 points.
