Ronaldo copies Messi as Real qualify

Friday, 4 November 2011 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Cristiano Ronaldo took a leaf out of Lionel Messi’s book when he reached a personal landmark and led Real Madrid into the Champions League knockout stages by scoring both goals in a 2-0 win at Olympique Lyon on Wednesday.

Ronaldo’s great rival Messi scored his 200th goal for Barca 24 hours earlier and hit a hat-trick in a 4-0 demolition of Czech champions Viktoria Plzen which sparked Ronaldo to respond with his landmark 100th goal for Real.

His goals helped the Madrid club into the knockout round alongside Barca and AC Milan, who also qualified on Tuesday with a 1-1 draw at BATE Borisov.

Real’s form is also better than Barca’s with perfect figures of four wins out of four, the only team in the competition still with a 100 per cent record.

Ronaldo scored with a free kick midway through the first half and doubled his tally from the penalty spot in the second with his 100th goal for Real in 105 matches since joining from Manchester United in 2009.

“All the goals are special all the more so when it helps the team to win,” Ronaldo said.

Benfica and Bayern Munich could both have joined Barcelona, Milan and Real in the last 16, but their progress was delayed for different reasons.

Bayern, who beat Napoli 3-2 at home with Mario Gomez scoring a first-half hat-trick, could only have advanced if Manchester City had lost at Villarreal, but the Premier League leaders were too strong for the injury-hit Spaniards, winning 3-0 with Yaya Toure scoring twice and Mario Balotelli converting a penalty.