Atletico, Real Madrid win to put pressure on Barcelona

JOSEPH WILSON (Associated Press),The Associated Press Sat, Apr 9 11:18 AM PDT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Cristiano Ronaldo reached the 30-goal mark in the Spanish league for a sixth consecutive season in Real Madrid's 4-0 rout of Eibar, while Atletico Madrid fought back 3-1 at Espanyol on Saturday.
Atletico provisionally closed to within three points of leader Barcelona- with Real another point behind- to keep the pressure on the defending champion before its match at Real Sociedad, an outing it hasn't won in nine years.
Real coach Zinedine Zidane rested several first-choice players for his team's critical Champions League match on Tuesday, when Madrid will need to overturn a 2-0 deficit to Wolfsburg to make the semifinals.
Little did it matter against modest Eibar as James Rodriguez opened the scoring at the Santiago Bernabeu with a free kick in the fifth minute.
Ronaldo then set up goals for Lucas Vazquez and Jese Rodriguez on either side of his own strike to decide the result before halftime.
Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Toni Kroos never left Madrid's bench while Karim Benzema, Luka Modric and Keylor Navas weren't on the squad ahead of the visit by Wolfsburg that Zidane has described as key to the season.
''We are going to rest well, prepare for the match, and then give it our all from the very start on Tuesday,'' Zidane said. ''It will be a tough game, but we know that we are capable of big things.''
Diego Simeone held nothing back at Espanyol despite Atletico's own Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona on Wednesday, when the Catalan club visits with a 2-1 advantage.
Espanyol's Pape Diop headed in his third goal in as many games to give the hosts the lead near the half-hour mark, but Fernando Torres expertly controlled Jorge ''Koke'' Resurreccion's lobbed pass before driving in the equalizer in the 35th.
Antoine Greizmann put the visitors in charge by shooting the ball in off the upright after a brilliant buildup through Koke and Torres in the 58th. The France forward extended his league scoring streak to seven rounds with his 20th goal of the competition this campaign.
Koke and Torres connected again to seal the win with two minutes left, this time the striker passing for Koke to head in and cap their superb joint performance.
Bottom-side Levante visited Real Betis in the late match.

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