Messi And Ronaldo Share Goal Spoils As Barca Keeps Gap

On Wednesday, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were both on target as both Barcelona and Real Madrid kept up the ferocious pace at the top of La Liga with comfortable wins.

Messi scored the opener, his 33rd in La Liga this season, as leader Barcelona beat Almeria 4-0 in the Nou Camp.

However,  Ronaldo was unable to match his five-goal heroics of the weekend.

But his diving headed goal in the 67th minute broke the deadlock in 2-0 victory at Rayo Vallecano to keep Real within Four points of Barca at the top.

It was the Portuguese international's 300th goal for Real in 288 matches and puts him just 23 goals behind the club's record goal scorer Raul, who took 741 matches to reach a tally of 323 goals.

After the 9-1 drubbing of Granada, Real was made to work much harder against an in-form team and the pressure was greater as Barcelona had secured its three points earlier in the evening.

Several chances were wasted and Ronaldo was harshly booked for diving shortly before he connected with a Dani Carvajal cross to score his 37th La Liga goal of the campaign.

Ronaldo then set up Colombia star James Rodriquez for the clinching second, a low drive.

Earlier, Messi curled home the opener after just over half an hour, with the other scores coming from Luis Suarez with a double with defender Marc Bartra also on target after the break.

Luis Enrique rested Neymar and Gerard Pique ahead of the tough trip to Sevilla on Saturday, but the changes did not affect a fine team performance.

Barca recorded its 20th win in the last 21 games in all competitions.