Real Madrid climbed back above Barcelona to the top of La Liga when Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain both netted twice to seal a convincing 4-2 victory at city rivals Getafe Thursday. Champions Barca ground out a labored 2-0 home victory over Osasuna to go three points clear and Real reclaimed the lead thanks to a superior goal difference over its arch-rival. Injury had deprived coach Manuel Pellegrini of two of Real's most expensive purchases, Brazil playmaker Kaka and France striker Karim Benzema, and it was record signing Ronaldo who fired it ahead with a trademark free kick. The Portuguese's mastery of the deadball could be a potent weapon at this year's World Cup and Getafe goalkeeper Oskar Ustari was powerless to prevent his 13th-minute strike from the edge of the penalty area arrowing into the top corner. Two clinical finishes from the in-form Higuain put Real three ahead inside 23 minutes, the Argentina international's 21st and 22nd league goals of the season. He ran on to a Rafael van der Vaart pass in the 20th and beat Ustari with a low shot before rounding the keeper and side-footing into an empty net after smart work from Fernando Gago. Ronaldo made it four for a rampant Real in the 37th, dancing in from the right wing and smashing an angled shot into the roof of the net. Daniel Parejo pulled a goal back a minute later when Real keeper Iker Casillas raced out of his area to clear. The Getafe midfielder robbed him of the ball before netting through a crowd of defenders into the empty net. Real comfortably controlled a much less frantic second half, although Casillas was beaten again in the 80th when Pedro Leon pounced on a loose ball and finished from close range. Getafe's miserable night took a turn for the worse in added time when coach Michel, a former Real player, was dismissed from the bench for protesting a decision. Real and Barca are 18 points clear of third-placed Valencia, who beat Malaga 1-0 Wednesday to move to 53, and Real Mallorca are six behind Valencia in fourth. Napoli stuns Juventus Napoli revived its hopes of claming Serie A's final Champions League qualifying slot and dented Juventus's when it heaped more misery on the Turin side with a 3-1 comeback win Thursday. Fabio Quagliarella, Marek Hamsik and Ezequiel Lavezzi struck in the second half to cancel out Giorgio Chiellini's early strike and hand Juventus its third straight defeat in all competitions. Victory lifted Napoli level with Juve on 45 points, three behind Palermo in the fourth spot which would claim a place in the Champions League preliminaries. Juventus's wretched luck with injuries also continued as midfielder Christian Poulsen limped off. With eight games to go, leader Inter Milan is four points ahead of AC Milan and AS Roma, who it visits Saturday, after beating bottom side Livorno 3-0 Wednesday. England-Bulgaria opener England will kick off its Euro 2012 qualification campaign with a home match against Bulgaria on Sept. 3. The UEFA draw was held here Thursday. Group G, which contains Fabio Capello's team, was one of four pools in which UEFA was forced to hold a draw to determine the schedule after the competing football associations were unable to come to an agreement. The English will travel to Switzerland on Sept. 7 for their second qualifying match and play neighbor Wales on March 26, 2011. England's campaign will finish on Oct. 7, 2011, at Montenegro. The other groups drawn Thursday were Group F, containing Israel, Greece and Croatia; Group B, including Russia, Slovakia and the Republic of Ireland; and Group H, containing Portugal, Norway and Denmark. The Portuguese will host Cyprus in their opening match, on Sept. 3, and visit Denmark on Oct. 11, 2011, the final matchday. Ireland opens its campaign at Armenia on Sept. 3 and ends it at home to Armenia on Oct. 11, 2011.
