MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in the last eight minutes for Real Madrid to rally for a 3-1 win over Hercules to stay top of the Spanish league Saturday, while Barcelona romped to another home victory against Sevilla to keep pace. Hercules went ahead after three minutes through a David Trezeguet header before Angel Di Maria volleyed past goalkeeper Juan Calatayud for a 53rd-minute equalizer. Ronaldo latched onto a Karim Benzema rebound to put Madrid ahead at Jose Rico Perez Stadium before adding his league-leading 12th goal of the season four minutes later after converting substitute Benzema's 86th-minute pass. The Portugal forward nearly had a hat trick, but shot high in the closing stages. “Psychologically it is good for us to come from behind, but the most important thing is to get the three points and stay first,” Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said. Madrid leads with 23 points from nine games, while Barcelona trails by only one point after beating Sevilla 5-0. Barcelona scored consecutive 4-0 wins over the Andalucian team in its last two visits to the Camp Nou. The Spanish champion's win was never in doubt, and Lionel Messi confirmed it with the first of his two goals in the fourth minute, blasting a rebound that bounced off defender Antonio Luna and across the line. Luis Fabiano missed on a crossing shot for Sevilla's best chance almost 10 minutes into the match. But Barcelona kept pouring it on and David Villa snapped his more than month-long scoring drought by perfectly curling a left-foot shot inside the far post in the 24th. Pedro Rodriguez caused problems for the Sevilla defense throughout and the visitors were left to play with 10 men when Abdoulay Konko was sent off for barging into Pedro as the first half expired. Dani Alves added the third in the 52nd when midfielder Ndri Romaric headed the ball back to goalkeeper Javi Varas and the Barcelona right back darted in and tipped it over Varas into goal. Messi scored his seventh goal of the season - second to only Ronaldo - after he robbed the ball from Diego Capel near midfield, dribbled to the edge of the area and slotted the ball right by the post. Villa took his season tally to four after gliding across the front of the area before beating Varas with a left-footed shot to close the match. Earlier, Valencia was held to 1-1 at home against 10-man Zaragoza. AS Roma beats Lecce In Milan, AS Roma's 2-0 win over Lecce in the Serie A Saturday could prove costly after captain Francesco Totti was sent off and continued to be aggressive off the field. Juventus beat AC Milan 2-1 through goals from Fabio Quagliarella and Alessandro Del Piero either side of halftime. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored for Milan with eight minutes remaining, but Juventus held on for the win. The loss was only Milan's second of the season and came at the end of the week in which Italian bookmakers installed it as title favorite.
