CRISTIANO RONALDO silenced his critics yet again Saturday, as the 31-year-old Portuguese superstar netted a hat trick to lead Real Madrid to a 3-0 victory over rival Atletico Madrid and give Real a clear line of sight to its first La Liga title in half a decade.

    Real now leads second-placed Barcelona by four points after the Catalans paid a heavy price for the absence of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in a 0-0 draw with nine-man Malaga earlier Saturday.

    Ronaldo struck the decisive spot-kick as Real edged Atletico on penalties in the Champions League final in May and was the match winner once more, albeit with a slight hint of fortune.

    The Portuguese’s opener took a wicked deflection on its way past the excellent Jan Oblak.

    Ronaldo doubled Real’s lead from the penalty spot 19 minutes from time before a brilliant Gareth Bale cross teed him up for the simplest of finishes to complete his hat trick.

    “We played an enormous game from the start against a very difficult opponent,” said a delighted Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

    “There are very few teams that can come here and win 3-0.”

    A third league defeat in four games leaves Atletico’s title ambitions in tatters in its final season at the Calderon.

    Diego Simeone’s men are now nine points adrift of Real down in fifth.

    “Above all in the first-half they were better than us,” admitted Simeone.

    “For the first 20 minutes of the second half we created chances, played in their half and controlled the game, but then came the penalty, which took the wind out of our sails.”

    Real was without six key players in captain Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Casemiro, Toni Kroos, Alvaro Morata and Karim Benzema, but impressively controlled the first 45 minutes.

    At the Camp Nou, Barca was held scoreless for the first time in La Liga since Malaga’s visit in 2014 without the ill Messi and suspended Suarez.

    “They are two of our most decisive players. They make the difference in the most important part of the pitch, but that can’t serve as an excuse,” said Barca’s captain for the day Sergio Busquets. Without his usual two strike partners, the focus was on Neymar to break down the mass ranks of Malaga defence.

    The Brazilian fired into the side-netting inside the first 10 minutes, but Barca’s bright start quickly fizzled out.

    Indeed, Juan Carlos had the best chance of the game for Malaga just before the hour mark when he rounded Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen but fired into the side-netting with the goal gaping.

    (SD-Agencies)