Celtic hit high road in style

Round-up/ Scottish Premier League:Scott McDonald hit a double as Celtic thrashed Aberdeen 5-1 yesterday.

Celtic coasted to a 3-0 interval lead and dominated throughout.

They now have 52 points from 23 games and lie in second place, while Rangers top the SPL standings on 56 following Saturday's 2-0 home win over Falkirk, Kris Boyd and Stevie Naismith scoring the goals.

Shunsuke Nakamura got Celtic's first on 17 minutes following a run down the left and low cross from Aiden McGeady.

Republic of Ireland international McGeady made it 2-0 on 33 minutes with a low, curling shot from 25 metres on the right into the bottom left. Australian striker McDonald slotted home a penalty 10 minutes later.

Three minutes into the second period, McDonald headed in Celtic's fourth from a few metres, before Aberdeen pulled back a goal when Lee Miller scored in the 62nd minute.

Substitute Barry Robson scored with his first touch of the ball for Celtic after signing from Dundee United by blasting a 20-metre free-kick past goalkeeper Jamie Langfield in the 73rd minute.

Italian Serie A: Inter Milan maintained their eight-point lead at the top table after the weekend after defeating Catania 2-0 in Sicily yesterday.

Esteban Cambiasso opened the scoring after 64 minutes and David Suazo sealed the win three minutes later.

Substitute Alberto Paloschi finished superbly with his first touch to hand AC Milan a 1-0 win over Siena. The win helped Milan, in fifth, go two points behind fourth-placed Fiorentina, who drew 2-2 at Atalanta on Saturday.

Third-placed Juventus also struggled until Mauro Camoranesi and Vincenzo Iaquinta netted in the second half to grab a 2-1 win at Udinese after Andrea Dossena had given the hosts an early lead.

Winger Camoranesi, fully fit after a thigh injury, headed in to spur on Claudio Ranieri's side, before Iaquinta repeated Paloschi's trick by scoring straight after coming on.

The Turin side are 12 points adrift of Inter, while AS Roma are five behind the champions in second after beating Reggina 2-0 on Saturday.

Primera Liga: Real Madrid crushed Valladolid 7-0 at the Bernabeu to extend their lead at the top to eight points yesterday.

The visitors took the game to Real early on but went in at the break 5-0 behind, as Raul (twice), Julio Baptista, Arjen Robben and Guti scored.

Guti and Royston Drenthe completed the rout after the interval, while Iker Casillas pulled off a top-class save to deny Valladolid a consolation goal near the end.

The champions pulled away from second-placed Barcelona, who could only draw 1-1 away to Sevilla on Saturday.

Earlier, Diego Forlan scored twice to earn Atletico Madrid a 2-0 win away to Racing Santander that put them fourth with 41 points, one behind Villarreal who beat Real Murcia 1-0 on Saturday.