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Cristiano Ronaldo has gone back to his old ways after scoring 5 goals in Real Madrid’s 6-0 rout of Espanyol playing away from home. The Portuguese who was yet to score a goal this season did so in brilliant fashion. He scored his 28th La Liga hattrick and went on to beat Raul’s record of 228 league goals for the club. He managed to complete this feat in 203 appearances for Los Blancos.
Although Espanyol tried their best to stop the three-time Ballon d’Or winner, he was just too good for them.
Teams
Espanyol
Starting XI (4-4-2): Pau Lopez, Arbilla, Alvaro, Ciani, Duarte, Sanchez, Sevilla, Lopez, Alvarez, Moreno, Caicedo.
Subs: Bardi, Paco Montanes, Canas, Juan Fuentes, Joan Jordan, Raillo, Sylla.
Real Madrid
Starting XI (4-3-3): Keylor Navas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Casemiro, Modric, Isco, Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Subs: Casilla, Varane, Kroos, Kovacic, Arbeloa, Lucas Vazquez, Jese.
First Half: Real Madrid dominance
Espanyol started the game with a great attitude but it didn’ t take long for the La Liga giants to break the team’s morale. Ronaldo scored the first goal in only the seventh minute of the match when Luka Modric sent him a lobbed pass that went over the high defensive line. All he had to do after that was roll the ball past the goalkeeper into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
Real Madrid received a penalty after Espanyol defender Alvaro brought down Gareth Bale in the penalty box. The Welshman was fouled when he was rushing after a well-timed pass from Karim Benzema. Ronaldo took the penalty and went on to double his tally.
The 30-year old went on to score his career’s fastest hat trick within 21 minutes. Ronaldo converted cross from Bale right at the edge of the six-yard box to equal Raul’s league record.
The Periquitos who were quiet for the most part after that but had a moment of excitement a few minutes later when Salva took a left-footed shot from 20-yards out, but Real’s Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas managed to get the ball under control after fumbling it.
In the 28th minute, Benzema added to Espanyol’s misery by scoring the fourth goal for Madrid. He found the back of the net after Cristiano Ronaldo sent the ball into the center of the box.
Ronaldo was close to scoring his fourth goal a few minutes later, but was not so fortunate. The game was almost at a stand still after that during which time Karim Benzema managed to receive a yellow card.
Second Half: Cristiano Ronaldo beats Raul’s league record
Espanyol bring in Montanes and Jose Canas for Michael Ciani and Javier Lopez Rodriguez respectively hoping to limit the capital club team from running them ragged. The men in blue and white put on a fight and managed to threaten Real Madrid a few times, but Keylor Navas stood firm and didn’t let anything get past him.
Real took Modric off to bring in Mateo Kovacic hoping to get more from the game. Espanyol who gave a better performance in the second half, were unable to stop Ronaldo from beating Los Blancos legend Raul’s league record of 228 goals. The player received another brilliant pass from Gareth Bale in the 61st minute and put into the back of the box like the previous three.
Madrid who were back to dominating the game took off Benzema for Lucas Vasquez and Sergio Ramos for Raphael Varane.
Vasquez though made an immediate impact in the game after aiding the Portuguese to his fifth goal an 81st-minute. The irony though was that Vasquez ended up aiding Ronaldo to score against the team he was loaned to previously.
Espanyol try to redeem themselves by scoring a goal, but Keylor Navas saw the game through ensuring that the team got a clean sheet. Real Madrid managed to win the game 6-0 which is the team's biggest victory this season. The team currently has seven points from three games and are yet to concede a goal this season
