BARCELONA, Spain -- Barcelona was held to a 0-0 draw by Sevilla on Saturday, letting Real Madrid take the overnight lead in the Spanish league after Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick in 15 first-half minutes of a 4-0 rout against Malaga. The defending champions looked set to snatch a victory in injury time when Andres Iniesta was fouled in the area, but Sevilla goalkeeper Javi Varas stopped Lionel Messis penalty to cap his excellent performance of nine saves. "All penalties are complicated, and both luck and all the work you have put in play a part," Varas said. "But I have to give credit to my teammates. The merit is of all the team." Madrid had no such problems at big-spending Malaga, as Angel Di Maria assisted on goals by fellow Argentina international Gonzalo Higuain and Ronaldo, before the Portugal forward added two more to decide the game before halftime. The win put Madrid one point ahead of Barcelona atop the standings and two points ahead of Levante, which travels to Villarreal on Sunday in search of its sixth straight victory. "There is no comparison between the two halves," said Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, whose team has outscored its opponents 25-3 in six straight wins in all competitions. "The first half was fantastic. Later I knew it would be impossible to repeat it. Our concentration lagged, and their pride came out." Elsewhere, Sporting Gijon beat Granada 2-0 for its first win of the season, while Sergio Garcias second-half goal dropped the winless Racing Santander into last place as Espanyol won 1-0 for its second straight away victory. Expectations were high in Malaga after Qatari owner Sheik Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani spent C60 million to overhaul the squad this summer, but Madrid easily showed the Costa del Sol side is still far from challenging the leagues traditional powerhouse. Mourinho continued to alternate strikers, with Higuain returning to the starting 11 as Karim Benzema began on the bench despite his strong performance in a 4-0 win over Lyon midweek in the Champions League. Higuain soon proved his coachs choice was the right one when he reached Di Marias pass in the 11th, rounded goalkeeper Ruben Martinez with one touch, and rolled home the visitors opener for his ninth goal of the season. Madrid camped in Malagas half from the start and had little trouble snuffing out any attempts at counterattacking. "I liked everything about (my team)," said Mourinho. "Our first touch, second pass, when we lost the ball we pressed a lot. We scored in a variety of ways. I liked every facet of the game." Ronaldo quickly decided the encounter to emphatically break his three-game scoring drought. Last seasons top scorer tapped in a beautiful curling cross from Di Maria in the 22nd, and six minutes later he took advantage of the shell-shocked Malaga when he rifled in a right footer from the edge of the area. Ronaldo capped his treble in the 38th with an acrobatic move to redirect a headed pass by Sergio Ramos with the bottom of his right boot, drawing level with Messi as the leagues top scorers with 10 goals apiece. At Camp Nou, Barcelona controlled more than 70 per cent of possession, but could not break through the undefeated Sevillas disciplined defence. The opening stages of the game were evenly matched as Iniesta drew the first of many saves from Varas while Spain winger Jesus Navas forced Barcelonas Victor Valdes to make a pair of blocks. Barcelona slowly established its control-based passing game, with Dani Alves overlapping runs providing danger from the right flank as Messi and Iniesta tried to penetrate through the centre of the defence. Messi, Adriano and David Villa all came close as Barcelona pressed the visitors back into their area before Iniesta hit the crossbar in the 73rd. Tempers flared after Iniesta was fouled by defender Federico Fazio in the area in added time, with Sevillas Frederic Kanoute and Fernando Navarro both receiving red cards for protesting. But Varas anticipated Messis spot kick by diving to his left side to keep his fifth clean sheet of this season for the fourth-place Sevilla. "We did everything and more to win, shooting 22 times between the posts, but we couldnt get that first goal," said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, whose team had outscored its league opponents 21-0 in four previous wins. "Varas played a great game," the former midfielder said. "He made two or three saves with his leg. We have to congratulate him." Also on Sunday, its: Real Betis vs. Rayo Vallecano, Real Sociedad vs. Getafe, Atletico Madrid vs. Mallorca, Osasuna vs. Zaragoza, and Valencia vs. Athletic Bilbao. jerseys from china . Sehn will have to wait until June until all countries have completed their Olympic qualifying procedures, to officially know whether it was enough to secure a second Olympic spot in the event for Canada. cheap nfl jerseys . -- The San Jose Sharks have signed Western Michigan defenceman Matt Tennyson to an entry-level contract. http://www.cheapnfljerseys2015.us.co... . Milan announced Wednesday that the players new deals expire on June 30, 2012. There had been speculation that the often-injured Nesta might retire after this season, but the 35-year-old recently indicated he plans to continue playing. [url=http://www.cheapnfljerseys2015.us.com/]nfl jerseys china . What his New York Mets teammates would really like, however, is to make their own run at October with Beltran by their side. "Whats the option, give up? Let us take it down a different path? We want to make it hard for the front office," starting pitcher R. cheap jerseys from china . -- The New England Patriots have agreed to terms with Olympic silver medallist Jeff Demps, who played running back at Florida but was not drafted by an NFL team because he said he wanted to focus on his track career. Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Jered Weaver hurled his fourth career shutout and his second this season, as the Angels blanked the Mariners, 4-0, to take the second edition of a three-game series. Weaver (8-4) scattered five hits and a walk while striking out six as Los Angeles won for the third time in four games, including the first two in this set. Doug Fister (3-8) went seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out five as Seattle suffered its seventh defeat in 11 contests. The Angels jumped out to an early lead with a four-run first inning. Erick Aybar led off the game with a double and came home on a Torii Hunter single. Two batters later, Vernon Wells reached first on a fielders choice to put runners on the corners. Howie Kendrick and Russell Branyan followed with back- to-back RBI singles before Peter Bourjos ground-rule double brought home Kendrick. Doug struggled in the first. Obviously, against Weaver you hate to spot them four runs early like that, but Doug Fister, he really dug deep and he threw the ball as weve seen him throw it those six innings after that, Mariners manager Eric Wedge said about his starter. That would be all the offense they would receive, butt it would also be all they would need behind Weaver.dddddddddddd The 28 year-old right-hander retired the first six batters he faced before getting into some trouble in the third. Mike Carp singled to lead off the inning and, after two quick outs, Ichiro Suzuki singled to put runners on the corners. But Brendan Ryan struck out swinging to end the inning. Weaver allowed just one other baserunner -- a Jack Cust walk in the seventh -- before Suzuki doubled to lead off the ninth. He would not advance any further, though, as Ryan popped out to second, Justin Smoak flied out to center and Adam Kennedy fouled out to third to end the game. I think the early runs helped. He was able to pitch to contact a little more than his tendencys been when we hadnt been scoring runs, so the early runs helped him. Maybe his command wasnt as crisp as wed seen in the past, but he made some pitches, said Angels manager Mike Scioscia about Weaver. GAME NOTES:The win was the 4,000th in the history of the Angels franchise...Weaver improved to 11-4 against Seattle in his career...Suzuki has now recorded four consecutive multi-hit games...Suzuki is one stolen base shy of 400 in his MLB career and two shy of 600 in his pro career (199 in Japan). cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '