DPA/Madrid

Rampant Real Madrid kept top spot in the Spanish Liga on Saturday with a 3-0 home drubbing of midtable Celta Vigo, with a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo.
It was Real’s 11th straight win in La Liga and their 18th in all competitions. Ronaldo is top of the scorers’ chart with 23 goals from 14 games, a new Spanish record at this stage of the season.
“New words need to be invented to describe Ronaldo,” said Real defender Sergio Ramos.
“His goals statistics are astonishing. It is a privilege for Real Madrid to have a player like him. He is breaking all the records. Maybe this is the best moment in his career.”
Meanwhile, Real boss Carlo Ancelotti said: “To have Ronaldo in the team is a great advantage for us. He is always capable of changing the game with a moment of magic.
“Not that he was the only good performer today, far from it. This was another good team performance, to tell the truth.”
Real are four points above Atletico Madrid, who moved up to second earlier Saturday with a 2-0 win at bottom team Elche.

BIT OF CONTROVERSY
Real needed a controversial penalty to take the lead, when Ronaldo appeared to dive after a slight push from Celta defender Jonny, in the 36th minute. To the fury of the visiting players, Ronaldo then made it 1-0 from the spot.
Ronaldo doubled the lead in the 66th minute with a powerful low drive, after the Celta defence had failed to break up a move engineered by Toni Kroos.
Ronaldo completed his hat-trick - his 20th since joining Real in 2009 - nine minutes from time after good work down the left by Marcelo.  The only bad news for Real was the muscle injury suffered by James Rodriguez.
Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid moved up to second 2-0 at lowly Elche - a victory reminiscent of many of Atletico’s away wins en route to the title last season, with solidity in defence, hard running in midfield and sharpness in front of goal.
Teenage defender Jose Maria Gimenez, standing in for suspended Joao Miranda, calmly gave Atletico the lead in the 16th minute after a good combination down the left between Koke and Arda Turan.
Mario Mandzukic made it 2-0 eight minutes into the second half after latching on to a through-ball from captain Gabi. Elche, who are now bottom, never threatened to turn the match around.
“The team played very well, they were very professional and got into the match well,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said.
“They understood where they could do damage and the set-pieces were well organised. In the second half we were very consistent. It looks simple when the game is over, but until then it wasn’t as easy as all that.”
Cordoba moved off the bottom - to the detriment of Elche - with their first win, 1-0 at number nine Athletic Bilbao from Nabil Ghilas in the 23rd.
Sunday’s late game saw sixth-placed Malaga win at Deportivo Coruna, who are now second from bottom.
The only goal in Riazor came in the 22nd minute, when Malaga midfielder Sergi Darder broke the deadlock with a powerful low drive from just outside the Deportivo penalty area.