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Spanish behemoth Real Madrid walloped a hapless Deportivo side 8-2 and climbed to 5th in the league standings. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first hat-trick of the season whereas Bale and latest recruit, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez both bagged a brace in Real’s stupendous performance.Deprotivo were totally outclassed and despite the two goals they racked-up, it was nothing but mere consolation as they were dominated all through the match by a rampant Real Madrid side.Here are the 5 talking points from the game.
#1 Real Madrid back to winning ways
After a winning start to the 2014-15 La Liga campaign against Cordoba, Real slumped to two back-to-back defeats that left them in 13th position, trailing leaders Barcelona by a massive 6 points.
But with this game, the European champions have not only managed to pull out an emphatic victory, but have also sent an ominous message to their adversaries that they shouldn’t be written off just yet. The visitors totally dominated the game in every department and allowed their under pressure headcoach, Carlo Ancelotti, to breathe a sigh of relief.
Real had won only twice in their last 8 visits to the Riazor, thus giving rise to a frightening prospect of another slip-up. However, that wasn’t meant to be and Real streamrollered to victory over a hapless Deportivo side.
#2 Bale on the ascendancy
With each fixture passing by, the world’s most expensive player, Gareth Bale, is taking his performances up a notch. After a slightly sluggish start to life at Madrid, the Welshman has shown drastic improvement and continues to impress no end.
The 24-year old was on target against Deportivo twice, taking his goal tally for the season to 4 in 6 appearances in all competitions. Bale squeezed an effort past Lux following a clever pass by Marcelo and added the fifth from a similar position on the left side of the area after a good run and pass from Isco.
Having missed out on the World Cup in Brazil, the former Tottenham winger got enough time to recuperate from his injuries and get ready for the new season, and that has reflected in his performances.
#3 Chicharito dazzles and offers Real options
Although the Mexican came on in the dying minutes of the game, the impact he had was immediate, as he rubbed salt on Deportivo’s wounds by bagging a brace within the span of just 3 minutes.
The first of his two came in the 88th minute when he unleashed a fierceful volley past Deportivo goal-keeper Lux from the edge of the box and finished an astounding evening for Los Blancos by scoring in injury time as his long range effort was deflected beyond Lux.
Chicharito, who moved to Real Madrid on a loan from Premier League outfit Manchester United on transfer deadline day, is yet to make a start for the Whites, but the Mexican has been promising until now and this game against Deportivo was his best thus far.
It was only a glimpse of what he has to offer over the course of the season and Real will be hoping for his best on a regular basis.
#4 Real Madrid re-write history
With this victory, Real Madrid have now scored 8 goals in an away game in the league for the first time in their glorious history and it is only the third time in Spanish football history that the visiting team has put 8 past the home side.
Prior to this game, Barcelona were the record holders with two 8-0 victories, one against UD Las Palmas in 1959 and the other against UD Almeria in 2010 whereas Real had recorded their biggest away victories in 1979, when they beat FC Progres Neidercom 7-0 and Real Zaragoza 7-1 in the 1988-89 season.
#5 Ronaldo steals the show, yet again
Four different players on the scoresheet for Real, but it’s still Ronaldo who grabbed all the headlines, as the Portuguese talisman scored a hat-trick to cap off a highly impressive performance.
He got the first of the evening on the stroke of half an hour when he looped a powerful header past Lux from an Alvaro Arbeloa cross. Within a few minutes, Marcelo played the ball forward to Benzema and he was scythed down by Lux rushing out from his goal.
The loose ball ran to Ronaldo and he put it into the empty net, giving the visitors a commanding 3-0 lead at half time. Deep into the second half, Ronaldo completed his hat-trick when he latched on to a pass from Isco and scored.
This was Ronaldo’s 20th hat-trick in the league and 23rd overall for the capital club.
