Remarkable Ronaldinho puts Barcelona 4 points clear

By Duncan Shaw Nov 26, 2006, 0:20 GMT

Madrid - Ronaldinho helped Barcelona stretch their lead atop of the Spanish first division with two goals in Saturday's 4-0 thrashing of hapless Villarreal.

The handsome win leaves Barca with 29 points from 12 matches, four points ahead of second-placed Sevilla, who play Sunday at lowly Athletic Bilbao.

'Ronaldinho was just wonderful tonight,' said captain Carles Puyol, 'and gave us a lot of invention in attack.'

The Brazilian megastar shot Barca ahead from the penalty spot in the 34th minute, after Eidur Gudjohnsen had been wrestled to the ground by the clumsy Pascal Cygan.

Villarreal's resistance crumbled in the second half, and Gudjohnsen headed in the second on a centre from the elegant Andres Iniesta.

Iniesta made it 3-0 with a classy volley. Then came the icing on the cake: Ronaldinho scoring with an extravagant scissors kick after controlling the ball on his chest.

Later in the evening, Atletico Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw at home by troubled Real Sociedad.

Atletico played badly and went behind in the 22nd minute when Gari Uranga headed Sociedad into the lead.

The hosts needed a stroke of good luck to equalize. Just 14 minutes from time, Sociedad defender Ion Ansotegi chested a rather aimless centre from Georgios Seitaridis into his own goal.

'We were a bit lucky to get a draw,' admitted Seitaridis. 'They made things very difficult for us tonight.'

The draw leaves Atletico in fifth place with 21 points, one behind fourth-placed Zaragoza and two behind third-placed Real Madrid.

Sociedad stay joint bottom with Gimnastic Tarragona, both with just five points.