Ronaldo the top scorer in Spain

BARCELONA, Spain (AP):

Cristiano Ronaldo overtook Lionel Messi as the season's leading scorer after his brace led Real Madrid to a 2-1 win at Eibar in the Spanish league yesterday.

Ronaldo scored his 32nd and 33rd goals in all competitions this campaign to move one ahead of his Barcelona rival.

And Ronaldo knows he'll stay top for now. Messi missed Barcelona's match at Malaga yesterday after earlier announcing the birth of Ciro, his third son.

After struggling early in the season to find the net in La Liga, Ronaldo has scored 14 goals in his last nine games in the competition.

That leaves him with 18 goals in the league, third behind Luis Suarez with 20 and Messi with 24.

Barcelona lead the league by eight points over Atletico Madrid, who host Celta Vigo today. Real Madrid are another four points back in third.

RONALDO TO THE RESCUE

Madrid was six minutes away from dropping points when Ronaldo came through with a powerful header to send in Dani Carvajal's cross and grab victory at Eibar.

Ronaldo opened the scoring against the flow of play in the 34th minute when Luka Modric intercepted a pass and set him up. Ronaldo used his chest to control Modric's pass before scoring.