ANKARA
In a breathtaking display against Espanyol on Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals -- including a first half hat trick -- to set a new record as Real Madrid’s top scorer in the history of Spanish first division La Liga.
The Portuguese football star has scored 230 goals with Real Madrid in La Liga, two more that the previous record holder, Raul Gonzales.
The 2015 Ballon d'Or winner needed 204 games to score two goals more than Raul scored in 550 games with the Los Blancos.
On Saturday, Real Madrid beat Espanyol 6 – 0 (Benzema 28, Cristiano Ronaldo, 7, 17 (P), 20, 62 and 81) in an away game to temporarily claim the top spot in the league after three matches.
This was the second time Ronaldo scored five goals in a match, with the first performance coming against Granada in April (9 – 1).
The list of high scorers in La Liga is led by Lionel Messi (286), followed by Hugo Sanchez (234), Telmo Zarra (251) and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo left Manchester United in 2009 for Real Madrid for a then record transfer fee of 94 million euros.
