Ronaldo surpasses best-ever goal tally in a season

The forward scored a hat-trick inside the first 34 minutes of Real Madrid's clash with Getafe, taking his total for the campaign to 61 goals

Cristiano Ronaldo has surpassed his best-ever goal tally in a single season after scoring a first-half hat-trick in Real Madrid's clash with Getafe to take his haul to 61 strikes.

Real Madrid's hopes of beating Barca to domestic glory ended last weekend but that did not stop Carlo Ancelotti's men from starting in style on Saturday, with Marcelo's inch-perfect cross met by the head of Ronaldo 13 minutes in to make it 1-0.However, the visitors then scored twice in a matter of minutes to take the lead, before Ronaldo scored a free-kick to put his side back on level terms and equal his previous best total of 60 goals in a season dating back to the 2011-12 campaign.

But that personal record was broken two minutes later when the 30-year-old converted a penalty to put the Blancos 3-2 in front at the Santiago Bernabeu - his 313th goal in his 300th game for the club.

Ronaldo's hat-trick means he now has 48 league goals this season, which makes him the top goalscorer in the major European leagues in 2014-15 and a three-time Pichichi winner. He is also just 10 efforts behind Raul as he closes in on becoming Madrid's greatest goalscorer of all time.

The match ultimately finished 7-3 to the Blancos, with Ronaldo replaced midway through the second half for Martin Odegaard, with the 16-year-old Norwegian becoming the youngest-ever player to play for the capital club in La Liga in the process.