BARCELONA — Cristiano Ronaldo scored four second-half goals to become the second all-time leading scorer in La Liga as Real Madrid routed Celta Vigo 7-1 Saturday.
Ronaldo's haul gave him 252 career goals, surpassing Telmo Zarra's mark of 251 goals that had stood as a record until Barcelona star Lionel Messi passed that milestone in 2014. Messi's hat trick in a 5-1 win at Rayo Vallecano Thursday took his leading tally to 305 goals.
After Pepe put Madrid ahead before halftime, Ronaldo scored with a long blast in the 50th. He then added another goal from a free kick, tapped in a short cross and headed home a corner kick.
Jese Rodriguez and Gareth Bale completed the demolition for Madrid.
Besides surpassing Zarra's mark for Athletic Bilbao from 1955, Ronaldo also passed Barcelona's Luis Suarez as the league's top scorer for the season. Ronaldo has 27 goals to Suarez's 25.
Madrid remained in third place and a provisional nine points behind leader Barcelona before it visits Eibar Sunday, when second-place Atletico Madrid visits Valencia.
Disqualified from the Copa del Rey and its Liga title hopes all but gone, Madrid turns back to its most realistic chance to salvage the season when it hosts Roma Tuesday in the Champions League round of 16, holding a 2-0 advantage.
Saturday's big win over sixth-place Celta came at a perfect time for Zinedine Zidane's side, which had been jeered by the same Santiago Bernabeu fans the previous weekend after a disappointing 1-0 loss to Atletico.
Defender Pepe headed the host in front in the 41st minute after a drab first half for Madrid that saw Celta's Iago Aspas hit the woodwork early.
But the second half was a lopsided affair after Ronaldo looped an unstoppable long strike over goalkeeper Ruben Blanco before it dipped into the net.
Ronaldo curved a free kick over the wall to make it 3-0 in the 58th, and he tapped in another goal in the 64th moments after Aspas had hit on the break.
Ronaldo got his fourth goal with a header in the 76th, a minute before Rodriguez scored.
Bale, who played his first minutes as a substitute since being injured in January, scored off the post in the 81st.
Di Santo seals Schalke win
Substitute Franco Di Santo sealed Schalke 04's 3-1 victory at Cologne Saturday as the Gelsenkirchen side moved into the top four in the Bundesliga to boost its hopes of a return to the Champions League next season.
The Argentine, who has so far had a disappointing first season after joining from Werder Bremen, scored three minutes after coming on in the 73rd, giving Schalke a much-needed two-goal cushion as the host was closing in on an equalizer.
First half goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Max Meyer had put Schalke in the driving seat but Leonardo Bittencourt cut itz lead and the hosts came close to scoring again before Di Santo's header in the 76th.
Bayer Leverkusen spectacularly came back from 3-0 to snatch a last-gasp draw at Augsburg.
Hakan Calhanoglu's stoppage-time penalty completed the feat after Augsburg's Koo Ja-cheol had scored a hat trick for the host.
VfL Wolfsburg beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-1 for its second win in two matches. Julian Draxler and Max Kruse were on target as the Wolves moved into seventh on 37, two behind Gladbach in fifth.
Rejuvenated Claudio Pizarro was also on target again, three days after his midweek hat trick, as Werder Bremen crushed bottom-placed Hanover 96 4-1 to climb up to 13th on 27 and further away from the relegation zone.
The 37-year-old Peruvian, who joined Werder this season for a third spell at the northern club the third time in his career, has now netted 11 times this season.
Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich travels to second-placed Borussia Dortmund later Saturday with five points dividing the two teams.
