MADRID (AFP) - Cristiano Ronaldo rounded off a week when he was named world player of the year for the third time by scoring a double as Real Madrid opened up a four-point lead at the top of La Liga with a 3-0 win away to Getafe on Sunday.

The visitors had to wait 63 minutes to make the breakthrough before he fired home from Karim Benzema's wonderful assist.

Gareth Bale doubled the lead before Ronaldo rounded off the scoring with a header from James Rodriguez's cross.

Barcelona can cut Madrid's lead back to a point when they travel to Deportivo la Coruna later on Sunday.

Said Real boss Carlo Ancelotti: "At the start, we played a bit slow but I liked the performance because the team played with intelligence and much better in the second-half than the first."

Perhaps suffering from the after-effects of their Copa del Rey elimination to Atletico Madrid in midweek, Real started sluggishly but were rarely threatened by a goal-shy Getafe.