MADRID — Real Madrid took full advantage of Barcelona's shock defeat at Real Valladolid with a 3-0 home win over 10-man Levante Sunday that put Carlo Ancelotti's in-form side three points clear at the top of La Liga. Cristiano Ronaldo, the leading scorer in Spain this season, took his tally to 24 league goals when he headed the opener from Angel Di Maria's corner in the 11th minute and Marcelo added a second from Ronaldo's assist four minutes after the break. David Navarro was harshly shown a straight red card in the 64th minute for an innocuous-looking tackle on Ronaldo and fellow Levante defender Nikos Karampelas put the ball into his own net nine minutes from time. Ronaldo, who became Portugal's leading scorer with a double against Cameroon in Wednesday's 5-1 friendly victory, came close to a second in the 90th minute when he headed against the underside of the crossbar and Gareth Bale whistled a low shot just past the post in added time. “I don't think it was a perfect game but we were close,” Marcelo told Canal Plus television. Real, unbeaten in 29 matches in all competitions, has 67 points with 11 matches left and Atletico Madrid is three behind in second position after winning 2-0 at Celta Vigo Saturday. Champion Barca turned in one of its worst performances of the campaign Saturday at relegation-haunted Valladolid and slipped to third on 63 points. Real is well placed in all three competitions it is in and a treble of Champions League, La Liga and King's Cup, which would be a first for the world's richest club, is within reach. “The team played well from the first minute to the last, with confidence and efficiency,” Ancelotti told a news conference. Fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao (51 points) missed a chance to open a nine-point lead over Villarreal (44) in fifth when the Basque side drew 1-1 at Valencia. Paco Alcacer put eighth-placed Valencia (36) ahead in the 23rd minute and Aritz Aduriz leveled from the penalty spot eight minutes into the second half. Sevilla (41), in seventh, boosted its chances of qualifying for Europe with a 3-1 win at Almeria while ninth-placed Espanyol (36) also stayed in the hunt with a 3-1 triumph at home to Elche. Dortmund downs Freiburg In Berlin, Borussia Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl scored the only goal as his team consolidated second place in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win at his former club Freiburg Sunday. Kehl's goal came against the run of play in the 58th minute when he swept the ball over Freiburg goalkeeper Oliver Baumann from around 25 meters with his left foot. The result prevented Freiburg from escaping the relegation zone with a win. It would have been the club's 100th home win in 500 Bundesliga games. Dortmund restored its 20-point gap behind runaway leader Bayern Munich. Mainz drew 1-1 at home with Hertha Berlin in Sunday's late game, a result that cost both sides the chance to climb into the European qualification places. Roma concedes Serie A title AS Roma coach Rudi Garcia has conceded that his team has no realistic chance of catching Serie A leader Juventus following Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Napoli. “We're not mathematically out of the race, but to all intents and purposes we are. There's a significant gap,” he told Roma's website after his side dropped 14 points behind leader Juventus which is on course for a third successive title. — Agencies
