Ronaldo bags hat trick as Real routs Sevilla


LONDON (AP) ― Chelsea missed a chance to put pressure on the two Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League on Saturday, yielding a goal with two minutes left in a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Wigan.

Chelsea looked on course for a fourth straight Premier League victory when Daniel Sturridge scored his eighth goal of the season in the 59th minute. But Wigan dominated the second half and Jordi Gomez tapped in from close range after a mistake by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

The result left Chelsea with 32 points from 16 matches, four behind second-place Manchester United and six behind longtime leader City.

Defending champion United could take first place for the first time since mid-October if it wins at Queens Park Rangers on Sunday and Manchester City loses to visiting Arsenal. Sunderland is at fourth-place Tottenham and Liverpool is at Aston Villa in Sunday’s other matches.

The draw left Wigan in the relegation zone with Blackburn and Bolton, which remained anchored to the bottom of the league after a 2-0 loss at Fulham.

Two weeks after becoming the most prolific American scorer in England’s top division, Clint Dempsey scored his 38th Premier League goal to get Fulham rolling. He scored his fifth league goal this season and eighth overall with a 32nd-minute header from Bryan Ruiz’s cross. Costa Rica forward Ruiz chipped over goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to make it 2-0 two minutes later.

Last-place Bolton has only nine points from 16 games. That’s one fewer than Blackburn, which lost 2-1 to visiting West Bromwich Albion. Peter Odemwingie scored West Brom’s winning goal with a minute left.

Spain

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick Saturday as Real Madrid bounced back in commanding fashion from last week’s loss to Barcelona with a 6-2 rout at Sevilla.

Madrid’s sixth straight away win in Spanish league play moved it three points clear of second-place Barcelona, which is set to play the final of the Club World Cup in Japan on Sunday.

Sevilla entered the game with the league’s second-best defense, but Madrid’s fast-paced attack had little trouble in picking it apart.

Ronaldo, who received a large part of the blame for the 3-1 loss to Barcelona, responded by taking his league-leading goal tally to 20, three more than Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

“This is to shut the mouths of my critics,” Ronaldo said. “I am used to it, so it doesn’t matter. I am focused on my team and I don’t care what people say about me. ... Those who criticize me don’t understand football.”

Germany

Defending champion Borussia Dortmund will go into the Bundesliga’s four-week winter break three points behind leader Bayern Munich after beating last-place Freiburg 4-1.

Robert Lewandowski scored the first of his two goals in the seventh minute. Jan Rosenthal tied it in the 34th but Ilkay Guendogan restored the visitors’ lead in the 44th, before Kevin Grosskreutz added another goal in the 59th and then crossed for Lewandowski to complete the scoring in the 70th.

On Friday, Bayern clinched the unofficial title of “winter champion” with a 3-0 win over Cologne on Friday.

Raul Gonzalez scored a hat-trick to help Schalke rout Werder Bremen 5-0, with Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Klaas Jan Huntelaar also scoring to complete a miserable evening for Werder goalkeeper Tim Wiese on his 30th birthday. Schalke and Dortmund have 34 points.

Relegation-threatened Nuremberg ended Bayer Leverkusen’s six-game unbeaten run in the league with a 3-0 win, Wolfsburg beat Stuttgart 1-0, Hamburger SV drew 1-1 with Augsburg and Roman Hubnik scored in injury time to rescue a 1-1 draw for Hertha Berlin at Hoffenheim.

France

French league leader Montpellier was held to a 1-1 draw by Toulouse on Saturday despite taking an early lead, allowing Lyon to narrow the gap and giving big-s pending Paris Saint-Germain a chance to seize the top spot.

Montpellier now only leads PSG by a point and could be overtaken on Sunday if its rival beats Lille, while Lyon pulled within two points with a 2-1 victory over Evian.

Geoffrey Dernis converted a rebound to open the scoring for Montpellier after six minutes, but Toulouse fullback Cheikh M’Bengue stole the ball from Dernis to level with a curling shot in the 40th.