Cristiano Ronaldo scored a second half hat-trick to make it 27 league goals for the season as Real Madrid crushed hapless Malaga 7-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday to close the gap on league leaders Barcelona to seven points.

Barcelona won 1-0 at Valencia on Wednesday to put the pressure on Real who had drawn 0-0 at Deportivo La Coruna in their last match, but Jose Mourinho's side responded by maintaining their 100 percent home record with their biggest win of the season.