[/caption]Madeira native Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed an excellent night at the Santiago Bernabeu last Sunday as Real Madrid thrashed Villarreal 6-2 in La Liga. The Portugal captain scored from a free-kick to open the scoring. He thus sent a message of sadness to his country which was hit by mudslides during the weekend.

A day earlier, Barcelona had trounced Racing Santander 4-0 at the Camp Nou to open a five-point gap at the top of La Liga table.
This result somehow put Real Madrid under more pressure to get a positive result at the Santiago Bernabeu against Manuel Pellegrini’s former club, Villarreal.

Some might have bet that Los Blancos’ match against the Yellow Submarines would be a close contest, but at the end of the day it looked much like a one-sided affair thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s significant inspiration.

Real Madrid vs Villarreal: First Half (2-1 for Los Blancos)

Cristiano Ronaldo was certainly surrounded by emotions going into Sunday’s La Liga match after hearing the catastrophe that had killed over 40 people in his native island Madeira.

The Portugal captain was aiming to prove his concern for his beloved countrymen and he indeed succeeded. The match was goalless but when Cristiano Ronaldo broke the deadlock two minutes after a quarter of an hour, the flood gates opened.

From Zimbio.com Images

It all started with Cristiano Ronaldo being awarded a free-kick after going down following an illegal block from Villarreal’s defender Mateo Mussachio. “Rocket” Ronaldo stepped up to take the kick and he fired the ball over the wall and straight into the top right corner of the net for another “Apollon 11 x4” goal.

The Portugal captain eventually celebrated emotionally, pulling up the front of his jersey and holding it with his teeth to show his underwear where he had hand written “MADEIRA”. Scoring such an awesome free-kick was certainly the perfect way for Cristiano Ronaldo to send out a message of sadness to his native Madeira Island.

Real Madrid quickly doubled their tally, but their second goal was extremely controversial. Gonzalo Higuain made a blatant dive in the box and instead of being flashed the yellow card he was awarded a penalty kick. Ricardo Kaka calmly slaughtered the ball at the back of the net; Real Madrid led 2-0 after only 20 minutes gone down the clock.
But the visitors responded 10 minutes later. Like Cristiano Ronaldo, Villarreal’s captain Marco Senna scored from a free-kick to reduce his side’s deficit before half time.

Real Madrid vs Villarreal: First Half (5 more goals to witness)

It didn’t took Real Madrid long to widen the goal margin. Inside the 53rd minute of the match, Cristiano Ronaldo was sent clean in attack through Alvaro Arbeloa clever pass from the back. The Portuguese star winger beat the offside trap and raced down the right flank before squaring the ball to Gonzalo Higuain who eventually inscribed his name on the scoring sheet.

At 3-1, Real Madrid thought that they were safe but they were eventually mistaking. Villarreal broke in attack and Brazilian international Nilmar finished off a series of nice passes to set the score line at 3-2 after 65 minutes of game play.

From Zimbio.com Images

Real Madrid never stopped attacking and through Cristiano Ronaldo, they possessed the perfect touches to hit Villarreal’s defensive line. The Portuguese forward dribbled with precision inside the 18-yard box and fed Kaka’s feet instead of selfishly going for goal himself. The former AC Milan star made no mistake as he sent the ball across the goal line to clinch a brace and increase Real Madrid’s margin to three.

With four minutes of normal time remaining, Villarreal conceded another penalty. This time, the referee’s decision proved to be correct as Cristiano Ronaldo was brought down by ex-Arsenal player Robert Pires. Xabi Alonso scored from the spot kick to round up Los Blancos wonderful 6-2 victory at home to Villarreal.

So Real Madrid continued their amazing perfect run at the Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga this season. Their win against the Yellow Submarines of Villarreal was mainly inspired by the emotionally-hit Madeira boy Cristiano Ronaldo. The Spanish giants still lack behind Barcelona in the standings but the gap is only of two points.

Real Madrid have 56 points after 23 match-days. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo counts 12 goals in La Liga’s top scorers chart. He is 4 goals behind leader Lionel Messi and 2 goals behind third place and team mate Gonzalo Higuain.

Enjoy in pictures Cristiano Ronaldo vs Villarreal here: [nggallery id=39]

Angela Asante, Footballfantalk.com