European roundup: Ronaldo scores twice as Real Madrid sink Valencia

• Madrid bounce back from Copa del Rey defeat with a 4-1 win
• Bayern survive early scare against Hoffenheim to win 5-2

Cristiano Ronaldo scored two penalties as Real Madrid hit back from their miserable start to 2018 with a rousing 4-1 win at Valencia.

Madrid were dumped out of the Copa del Rey by Leganés earlier this week, but were able to get back to winning ways after Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot in the 16th minute and then repeated the trick 22 minutes later, after Karim Benzema was pushed over by Martin Montoya inside the box.

Valencia pulled themselves back into contention in the 58th minute when Santi Mina headed home from a corner, but Marcelo made sure of the points with a thumping first-time strike in the 84th minute before Toni Kroos added the fourth. Real now trail Valencia by two points and have a game in hand.

Levante salvaged a 2-2 draw against 10-man Deportivo La Coruna at the Riazor. The home side took the lead with first-half goals from Adrián López and Florin Andone – although they lost Celso Borges in the 34th minute after he was shown a second yellow card – but Levante rescued a point thanks to two late goals from Ivi. Malaga were held 0-0 at home by Girona and also had to play out the latter stages with 10 men, after Chory Castro was sent off in the 78th minute.

In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich survived an early scare against Hoffenheim to win 5-2, even though they found themselves trailing by two goals after the first 12 minutes.

Midfielder Serge Gnabry, currently on loan at Hoffenheim from Bayern, missed a penalty after he was brought down by Joshua Kimmich, but Mark Uth scored the rebound. Gnabry then added a second from distance after Jerome Boateng tried to clear.

But Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski pulled one back with his 18th goal of the season, five minutes before Boateng made up for his earlier mistake by equalising. Kingsley Coman completed the turnaround midway through the second half and Arturo Vidal headed a fourth minutes later, before Sandro Wagner – who joined Bayern from Hoffenheim in December – added insult to injury by grabbing the fifth goal in the final minutes.

Bayern have a 16-point lead over Schalke, who enjoyed a 2-0 win at Stuttgart thanks to goals from Naldo and Amine Harit, while Borussia Dortmund snatched a last-gasp 2-2 draw at home to Freiburg. They went ahead through Shinji Kagawa in the ninth minute, but two goals from Nils Petersen – the second a spectacular lob – gave Freiburg the lead, until Jeremy Toljan spared Dortmund a fourth home defeat of the season with a stoppage-time equaliser.

Hamburger SV drew at RB Leipzig 1-1 in Bernd Hollerbach’s first game as coach, and Augsburg came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw away at Cologne, ending the bottom side’s three-game winning run. Werder Bremen were unable to break down Hertha Berlin in front of their own fans, with their game finishing 0-0.

Edinson Cavani became Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time leading scorer as he notched his 157th goal for the club in their 4-0 win over Montpellier in Ligue 1.

The striker turned in midfielder Adrien Rabiot’s low cross in the 11th minute, before Neymar made it 2-0 from the penalty spot following a handball from defender Pedro Mendes. Angel Di María converted Thomas Meunier’s centre from the right flank in the 70th minute and, 12 minutes later, Neymar tapped in Cavani’s cross to complete the rout.

Source : theguardian.com