Real Sociedad thump Rayo 5-0 to "trim" Madrid leadership

Raynald Denoueix described the weekend's round as "mathematically very good" for his Real Sociedad team.

After Real Madrid's 1-1 draw with Barcelona, Sociedad crept closer to the leaders with a resounding 5-0 whitewash of Rayo Vallecano yesterday.

A Nihat double, plus goals from Valery Karpin, Tayfun Korkut and Javier de Pedro made it nine goals in a week for Sociedad.

"It was very tense in the first-half, though De Pedro's penalty settled our nerves and the players performed very well in the second-half," said Denoueix.

"Mathematically the day has been very good because we have been able to trim points from our most direct rival and still have a day left to finish the month of April, before the final weeks of the season."