Ronaldo reaches 300 goals for Real in Rayo win

Friday, 10 April 2015 00:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (L) celebrates after scoring a goal against Rayo Vallecano during their Spanish first division soccer match at Vallecas stadium in Madrid 8 April Reuters: Cristiano Ronaldo headed his 300th goal for Real Madrid in a laboured 2-0 La Liga victory at neighbours Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday that kept the gap on leaders Barcelona down to four points. Fresh from thrashing Granada 9-1, when Ronaldo hit five, the European champions needed a win at Rayo’s Vallecas stadium after Barca strolled to a 4-0 home victory over Almeria to open a seven-point advantage over their arch-rivals. In-form Luis Suarez scored twice and Lionel Messi ended a three-game goal drought, with Marc Bartra also getting on the scoresheet at the Nou Camp. Real struggled to exert any control over lowly Rayo and missed a host of chances before Ronaldo netted his 37th La Liga goal of the campaign with a header from Dani Carvajal’s cross. The prolific Portugal forward, five clear of Messi at the top of the scoring chart, is the third player after Raul (323) and Alfredo Di Stefano (307) to reach 300 goals for Real, but has needed only 288 matches, compared with Raul’s 741 and Di Stefano’s 396.