Higuain warns rivals of a rising Madrid

(GSM) – Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain believes Real Madrid are getting better all the time after they ended 2009 with a 6-0 demolition of Real Zaragoza at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Even without key duo Kaka and Pepe through injury Madrid were still far too good for sorry Zaragoza, and the game was over as a contest inside the opening 35 minutes after the hosts stormed into a 4-0 lead.

Higuain and Rafael van der Vaart shared those goals equally between them before big-money summer signings Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema added two more strikes in the second half.

Madrid have had their critics this season but last night’s win was their biggest since trouncing Sporting Gijon 7-1 at the start of the last campaign and saw them close the gap on leaders Barcelona to two points.

It also means Madrid have won eight of their last nine games, with their only slip-up coming against Barca at the Nou Camp, and Higuain feels things are now gradually coming together for the Spanish giants, who spent around 250million euros on new talent this summer.

“We are playing better every day,” said the Argentinian, who has scored 10 goals in his last eight league games for Madrid.

“I’m very happy with the result and with the performance of the team. We played a very good match and we hope to continue on this path. We were solid and we took advantage of scoring so early on.

“It was very important to defeat Zaragoza in order to be just two points behind Barcelona. We depend on ourselves to catch up to them.”

World-record signing Ronaldo also feels he is improving.

The £80million summer arrival from Manchester United missed two months of the season due to an ankle injury and was back on the sidelines for last weekend’s trip to Valencia because of suspension.

However, he was back in the side for the Zaragoza match and his second-half goal took his tally to 13 strikes in 12 competitive games this season.

“I’m working well and I will do even better with the help of my team-mates. I want to carry on like this until the end of the season,” he said.

“I’m doing better every day. Two months out is a long time and coming back was difficult. But things are going well for me, I’m scoring goals and I hope to continue like that.”

He added on his club’s website: “It was important to end the year with a victory, so we are happy about that. Now we have to think about next year, which we must start as well as we’ve ended this one.”