Real Madrid defy crisis talk

Real Madrid moved back into the top four of La Liga by thumping lowly La Coruna 7-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday, with Cristiano Ronaldo ending a miserable run of league form with a late double.

Ronaldo had only scored four league goals before Sunday’s clash with third-from-bottom Deportivo, but the Portuguese added Real’s fifth and sixth with a smart volley and a diving header as they moved back above Villarreal and into the Champions League places.

Villarreal had temporarily taken fourth with a 2-1 win over Levante on Saturday after beating Real at the Bernabeu for the first time ever last week.

Gareth Bale and Nacho also bagged braces each side of half-time and Luka Modric curled home a 68th-minute beauty as Real came back from a shock early deficit, a 23rd-minute tap-in from Adrian, to romp to an emphatic victory and ease the pressure on coach Zinedine Zidane.

The win leaves Real five points behind Valencia in third, after Marcelino Garcia Toral’s side had two players sent off in a shock 2-1 loss at lowly Las Palmas on Saturday.

Real are 16 points behind league leaders and arch-rivals Barcelona, who can go 11 clear with a win at Real Betis later, and eight away from second-placed Atletico Madrid, who could only draw 1-1 with Girona on Saturday. 

Real had come into Sunday’s match in crisis following some dismal performances that culminated in last week’s defeat to Villarreal, and the mess seemed to have grown deeper when Adrian tapped home Lucas Perez’s low cross.

However the home side reacted immediately and by half-time were 2-1 up thanks to Nacho’s neat first-time strike and a superb curling effort from Bale, both of which came from crosses by Marcelo.

The floodgates opened in the second half, with Bale adding his second 13 minutes after the break with a towering header and Luka Modric expertly whipping home Real’s fourth ten minutes later from outside the area. 

It looked like it would be another tough day for Ronaldo when he shanked a shot wide in the 72nd minute, but five minutes later he met Casemiro’s cross to make it five and then crashed home Lucas Vazquez’s cross with six minutes left, taking a boot in the face from Fabian Schar. 

As Ronaldo was led off the pitch to have his bleeding head quickly patched up he asked to see the phone of one of Real’s medical staff and, pointing the camera at himself, used it to check the damage to his face.

Nacho completed the rout in the dying minutes, meeting Raphael Varane’s miscued header from a corner and turning smartly before lashing home the seventh.

Earlier, Joseba Zaldua scored a last-minute equaliser as Leganes came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Alaves, who had Rodrigo Ely sent off three minutes from time after Munir El Haddadi and Alfonso Pedraza had put the hosts 2-0 up.

Source:AFP