Real Madrid win amidst Liga goal drought

Real Madrid extended their lead at the top of the
Primera Division to six points with a comfortable
win over Granada tonight. Madrid looked in for a
testing evening when Mikel Rico (22) cancelled out
Karim Benzema's 19th-minute opener to reward the
visitors for an encouraging performance.
But Sergio Ramos headed Jose Mourinho's side
back in front on 34 minutes and the game was
over as a contest when Gonzalo Higuain and
Benzema scored within five minutes of the start of
the second period. Cristiano Ronaldo then added
further gloss to the scoreline with the fifth goal two
minutes from time as Madrid extended their lead
over second-placed Barcelona, who play Espanyol
tomorrow.
Elsewhere, goals were in considerably shorter
supply with just one scored in the day's other four
games. Manolo Jimenez made a losing start to his
tenure as Real Zaragoza coach as Racing Santander
inflicted a narrow defeat on the strugglers. Jimenez
took over a side rock bottom of the table after the
departure from the hotseat of Javier Aguirre, four
points behind 19th-placed Racing and five adrift of
safety.
Yet it was Racing who gave themselves a shot in
the arm at El Sardinero as Bernardo Espinosa's
header in first-half injury-time proved enough to
earn a welcome victory. The games between
Levante and Real Mallorca, Real Sociedad and
Osasuna and Malaga and Atletico Madrid - for
whom Diego Simeone was making his debut in the
hotseat - all ended goalless.