Real Madrid 6 - Albacete 1

Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Mejía, Samuel, Roberto Carlos; Beckham, Guti; Figo (Owen 58'), Raúl (Solari 75'), Zidane; Ronaldo. 4-2-3-1.
Albacete: Gaspercic; Oscar Montiel, Gaspar, Buades, Peña; Alvaro Rubio, Jaime; Redondo, Pacheco (Rubén Castro 56'), Mark González (Momo 56'); Francisco (Iván Díaz 60'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Madrid: Mejía, Samuel, Beckham for Iván Helguera, Pavón, Celades / Albacete: Oscar Montiel, Mark González, Francisco for Rubén, Momo, Rubén Castro.

Goals:
1-0. 02. Ronaldo. Far post header after Raúl flicked on Zidane corner.
1-1. 15. Francisco. Picked up pass from Pacheco and rounded Casillas to score.
2-1. 29. Zidane. Collected Figo pass and struck low shot past Gaspercic.
3-1. 32. Raúl. Header wide of keeper following good run and cross from Zidane.
4-1. 49. Samuel. Headed past keeper on far post from Beckham's free kick.
5-1. 89. Owen. Ran on to Ronaldo through ball and placed shot wide of Gaspercic.
6-1. 91. Ronaldo. Took pass from Solari and fought through to shoot into net.

Real Madrid finally got into top gear with a 6-1 win over Albacete, closing the gap with Barcelona to four points just a week before they visit the Nou Camp. It was an awesome display by the Galacticos, with Zidane putting in a brilliant first half and Ronaldo taking over after the break to prove to his detractors that he is back to his best.

Ronaldo it was who headed the opening goal from Zidane's corner as early as the second minute after Raúl had nodded the ball on, but Francisco levelled the scores on the quarter hour mark after a leaden-footed Samuel failed to cut out Pacheco's pass.

Zidane restored the lead a few minutes later though, beating the unfortunate Gaspercic with an angled shot from outside the area, and then set up Raúl to head the third with a dazzling run down the left wing. And the French superstar should have scored again on the stroke of half time when Figo's shot came back off the post, but he somehow bounced his kick over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

The onslaught continued after the restart, Samuel making up for his mistake by heading home Beckham's free kick from near to goal. His subsequent gesture didn't endear him to the crowd though, who had given him a hard time since his earlier mistake.

After that it was the Ronaldo show, the big striker having a goal disallowed for shoving off Peña and then shooting just over and having another shot saved by the keeper. With two minutes to go he set up substitute Michael Owen for him to score the fifth, and rounded things off with an individualist goal in injury time. The stage is set for next week's derby, and Madrid are back in contention after their best performance of the season.