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Cristiano Ronaldo's treble takes him to 42 Liga goals in 32 matches this season

Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick helped Real Madrid beat Sevilla to stay in touch with La Liga leaders Barcelona.

Barca's 8-0 thrashing of Cordoba earlier put pressure on Real to get a result against a Sevilla side that had not lost at home since March 2014.

Ronaldo brought that 35-match unbeaten streak to an end as Real survived a few nervous moments after goals from Carlos Bacca and Vicente Iborra for Sevilla.

Real are two points behind Barca with three matches of the season left.

Ronaldo's sixth hat-trick of the campaign also took him past a long-standing club record of 28 hat-tricks held by Real legend Alfredo Di Stefano since 1964.

The Portugal forward put Real ahead in the 36th minute when he headed in Isco's cross from six yards out.

Spanish title race - remaining fixtures Barcelona Real Madrid 9 May Real Sociedad (H) Valencia (H) 16/17 May Atletico Madrid (A) Espanyol (A) 23/24 May Deportivo (H) Getafe (H)

Two minutes later the 30-year-old struck again as he poked in James Rodriguez's cross from the right flank.

On the stroke of half-time Real defender Sergio Ramos gave away a penalty with a needless foul, with Colombia striker Bacca drilling the spot-kick down the middle to make it 2-1.

Ronaldo restored the two-goal cushion with a superb looping header into the far corner from substitute Gareth Bale's pinpoint cross, only for Sevilla to hit back again.

A well-worked move allowed substitute Kevin Gameiro to find Aleix Vidal down the right who cut the ball back for Iborra to finish.

Sevilla pressed for an equaliser but Carlo Ancelotti's side, who have not won the league title since 2012, held on to secure the points.

Elsewhere, Real's city rivals Atletico Madrid were held to a 0-0 draw by Athletic Bilbao while Deportivo La Coruna came from behind to draw 1-1 with Villarreal.