SOCCER: England striker Michael Owen continued his recent scoring form with a fourth goal in as many games to help Real Madrid secure a flattering 2-0 win over Primera Liga newcomers Getafe yesterday.
The former Liverpool player, who scored the winners in the 1-0 victories over Dynamo Kiev and Valencia as well as weighing in with another in the midweek victory over Leganes, got on the scoresheet with another well taken goal in the first half.
His Brazilian strike partner Ronaldo helped disguise what was a disappointing performance when he made it 2-0 11 minutes from time as Real scored more than once in a league match for the first time this season.
Earlier, Real Zaragoza had a sparkling 3-0 win at home to high-flying Sevilla that propelled them into fourth spot in the table. The visitors' second defeat of the season meant they missed a chance to close the gap on Barcelona, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao yesterday.
Barca lead the standings on 23 points from nine matches, six ahead of Sevilla and seven ahead of Real Madrid, Zaragoza and Levante who are all level on 16 points.
Real, missing midfielders David Beckham and Luis Figo, were slow to warm to the task and did not mount their first attack until midway through the half. Zinedine Zidane curled a pass behind the Getafe defence towards Ronaldo but the Brazilian fired over as he came under pressure from goalkeeper Francisco Sanchez Broto.
Less than five minutes later, Owen grabbed his fourth goal in four games to put Real in front. Ronaldo picked up a ricochet off a defender before sliding the ball into the path of his fellow striker who tucked a right-foot shot past the goalkeeper inside the far post.
Had it not been for some outstanding goalkeeping from Casillas and desperate last-ditch defending Getafe almost certainly would have caused an upset.
Real coach Mariano Garcia Remon replaced Owen with defensive midfielder Albert Celades 17 minutes from time, the change being greeted with a chorus of jeers. But Ronaldo popped up at the far post to net a rebound after a Raul shot was parried into his path and put a rather better gloss on what had been a poor overall performance.
Meanwhile, in Italy Juventus maintained their five-point cushion at the top of Serie A when they crushed Chievo Verona 3-0 at the Stadio delle Alpi. Goals by strikers Marcelo Zalayeta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and midfielder Pavel Nedved continued Juve's unbeaten start to the season and gave them 25 points from nine matches.
AC Milan are second after beating Sampdoria 1-0 thanks to striker Andriy Shevchenko.
Lecce, on 15 points, lie a distant third after a the were defeated 4-0 at Fiorentina.
