BARCELONA — Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick and passed the landmark of 300 club goals as Real Madrid put a turbulent week behind it with a 4-0 win at home to Getafe in La Liga Sunday to close to within four points of second-placed Atletico Madrid. Sergio Ramos scored in the 53rd minute after Ricardo Carvalho forced goalkeeper Miguel Moya to fumble the ball by hitting his arms in an apparent foul that went unpunished. Ronaldo then scored three times in an 11-minute span to give him 21 goals in league play this season, second only to Barcelona's Lionel Messi on 29. Madrid hosts Barcelona in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal Wednesday. The buildup to the game at the Bernabeu had been dominated by a report in Marca sports daily that captains Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos had threatened to leave unless coach Jose Mourinho was dismissed. Real President Florentino Perez called a news conference to deny the story and accused the newspaper of lying and the Spanish champion let its football do the talking with a comfortable victory against its city rival. Mourinho, who turned 50 Saturday, left several key players out of his starting lineup, including Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira, while goalkeeper Casillas was missing after breaking a bone in his hand midweek. On Saturday, Valencia and Levante won in dramatic fashion from late goals in the Spanish league, lifting the pair of crosstown rivals into Europa League positions. Defender Ricardo Costa headed in Valencia's injury-time winner to cap its 3-2 fightback victory at nine-man Deportivo La Coruna, while Levante edged out Valladolid 2-1 thanks to Antonio Rukavina's own goal in the 90th minute. Valencia rebounded from its 5-0 thrashing in the league and its subsequent elimination from the Copa del Rey this week by Real Madrid to move into fifth place. Levante is level on points with Valencia in sixth. Elsewhere, Real Sociedad was held to 1-1 at 10-man Celta Vigo, while Espanyol drew 0-0 at Real Zaragoza in a rough-and-tumble contest that both teams ended with 10 men. Levante coach Juan Ignacio Martinez said he was most pleased with his team's capacity to come from behind to get the win. “They scored a great goal that weighed heavily on us,” said Martinez. “But the important thing is that we knew how to regain our composure.” — Agencies
