Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick in 15 first-half minutes as Real Madrid thrashed Malaga 4-0 in the Spanish league Saturday. Gonzalo Higuain, who has hit two hat tricks in his last two games for Real, as well as another in between for Argentina, sent the visitors on their way after 10 minutes before Ronaldo stole the show with three goals in 15 minutes. He side-footed home an Angel di Maria cross and then fired in from the edge of the area before completing his hat trick with an acrobatic flick from close range. The win put Madrid rovisionally two points ahead of Barcelona atop the standings before the defending champion's late game against Sevilla. Madrid has won six straight games in all competitions, outscoring its opponents 25-3. It was big-spending Malaga's first home loss and second in a row overall this season. Former Real striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was a surprise exclusion from the Malaga starting XI but he would have found it difficult to make a difference anyway as Real ran riot and the Malaga strikers saw little of the ball. Elsewhere, Sporting Gijon beat Granada 2-0 for its first win, while Espanyol edged Racing Santander 1-0. Striker David Barral put Sporting ahead in the sixth minute at El Molinon Stadium when he put his left-foot shot between the near post and the goalkeeper. Granada's Alexandre Geijo came close to equalizing when he hit the post, but Andre Castro punished a poor clearance by the Granada defense to seal the win three minutes before halftime. Dortmund routs Cologne In Berlin, Borussia Dortmund got over its disappointing Champions League form by routing hapless Cologne 5-0 Saturday to go second in the Bundesliga. Shinji Kagawa put the defending champion ahead in the seventh, Marcel Schmelzer scored in the 25th, with Robert Lewandowski scoring a pair in the 44th and 49th. Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl capped the rout with a header in the 66th. Dortmund, which lost 3-1 to Olympiakos Wednesday, is three points behind Bayern Munich, which plays at Hannover Sunday. Stuttgart drew 2-2 at Nuremberg to move third on goal difference, as Borussia Moenchengladbach lost 1-0 at Hoffenheim. Also Saturday, Hertha Berlin drew 0-0 with Mainz and Kaiserslautern beat Freiburg 1-0. Hamburg SV came from a goal down to earn a 1-1 draw against VfL Wolfsburg.
