Luxemburgo hails Real Madrid star Raul

An early strike from Michael Owen helped Real Madrid to a 5-0 home victory over Racing Santander at the Bernabeu.

Two goals each from Raul and Ronaldo made it a rout over the side sixth from bottom in the Primera Liga.

Once England frontman Owen had given Madrid the lead in the 29th minute, after poking home a Ronaldo cross from close range, Madrid's win was never in doubt.
 
It allowed them to close the gap to three points on league leaders Barcelona, who face a difficult away game at last season's champions Valencia on Sunday.

Ronaldo fired Madrid's second from a penalty just after the half-hour mark, giving him the 100th Spanish league goal of his career, and Raul made it 3-0 after 63 minutes.

Club and country colleagues David Beckham and Owen combined to set up Raul for his second strike, a placed shot from 20 yards, and Ronaldo rounded off the win by breaching the Racing offside trap, rounding goalkeeper David Dudu Aouate and slotting into an empty net.

"Raul, since I have been here, played his best game. He ran, he scored, he helped Zidane and Beckham and he made an enormous contribution," said Real coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo. "He played a great game. His concentration was vital."

"The first goal is a thing that we have worked a lot on. That happened thanks to Raul and the counter attack with Ronaldo."

"We did our work very well. Now we must wait for Valencia-Barcelona. My team were phenomenal. Racing tried, but we played a perfect game."