First Division - Day 15

Real Madrid 6 - Zaragoza 0

Madrid: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Raúl Albiol, Garay, Arbeloa; Lass, Diarra, Van der Vaart (Granero 72'), Marcelo (Benzema 62'); Higuaín (Raúl 62'), Cristiano Ronaldo. 4-4-2.
Zaragoza: López Vallejo; Diogo, Pavón, Ayala, Paredes; Ponzio, Ander Herrera, Abel Aguilar (Jorge López 64'); Pennant (Braulio 86'), Arizmendi (Ewerthon 64'), Lafita. 4-3-3.

Goals:
1-0. 03. Higuaín. Ran on to Marcelo pass and beat López Vallejo from wide angle.
2-0. 26. Van der Vaart. Picked up Marcelo pass and fired low shot across keeper.
3-0. 29. Van der Vaart. Connected with Sergio Ramos cross to beat keeper.
4-0. 34. Higuaín. Controlled high ball with back to goal and lobbed shot into net.
5-0. 50. Cristiano Ronaldo. Took Marcelo centre and made space to score.
6-0. 71. Benzema. Took Van der Vaart pass and ran on to shoot in off far post.

Yellow cards: Lass 19', Ander 23', Paredes 45', Diogo 51', Ramos 79'.

Real Madrid closed the gap on leaders Barcelona after thrashing Zaragoza 6-0 on Saturday night. B team coach José Aurelio Gay was in charge for the visitors after Marcelino was sacked last weekend, but he could only watch as Higuaín latched on to Marcelo's pass to open the scoring in the third minute.

Van der Vaart added two more midway through the first half with help from Marcelo and then Sergio Ramos, and Higuaín showed excellent control to notch up his second of the evening with less than half the game gone.

After the break Cristian Ronaldo bamboozled the defence to make it five, and substitute Benzema completed the rout later on after Van der Vaart put him through. Zaragoza stay down in the relegation spots as a result, and Gay's brief chance to hold on to the top job appears to have evaporated.