Sporting briefs

In Spain: Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 5-1 yesterday to restore their six-point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga. Two goals each from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and one from Gonzalo Higuain gave the home team a comfortable victory with Xavi Prieto grabbing a consolation for the team from San Sebastian. Earlier, Barcelona beat Mallorca 2-0.

Dead: A 13-year-old boy was shot dead when Egyptian security forces clashed with fans protesting against a ban on Al-Masry football club over a deadly stadium riot, state media said yesterday. The official Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the boy was shot in the back and that 16 other fans were hurt, most of them suffering from tear gas inhalation, during the violence overnight in Port Said.

Burkina Faso: Belgium's Paul Put was named as the new national coach of Burkina Faso yesterday to replace Portugal's Paulo Duarte who was sacked after the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. The 56-year-old Put was chosen from a list of 12 candidates, said Burkina Faso football federation (FBF) chief Sita Sangare.

Moscow derby: Second-placed CSKA Moscow failed to narrow the gap behind the Russian league leaders Zenit St Petersburg as they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of city rivals Lokomotiv yesterday. Forwards Roman Pavlyuchenko and Felipe Caicedo scored one apiece to keep Lokomotiv in third place just one point behind CSKA. Zenit, who take on Rubin Kazan today, top the table on 70 points.

Kilmarnock: Kilmarnock defeated third-placed Motherwell 2-0 yesterday to hand Celtic the chance to clinch the Scottish Premier League title in today’s Old Firm derby at Ibrox. After the first half ended goalless Paul Heffernan opened the scoring in the 50th minute before Kilmarnock were awarded a 62nd-minute penalty which Heffernan converted.