The script seemed to be written before the match. Real Madrid would cruise to a comprehensive victory against Espanyol and Cristiano Ronaldo
would be back among the goals. That's what usually happens in this
fixture and, sure enough, it was exactly how things turned out again on
Sunday.
Madrid had hit five past Espanyol at Cornella earlier
this season, with Ronaldo on target five times in that 6-0 win in
Barcelona. And this time, Real ran riot once again as they racked up the
same scoreline - with Cristiano scoring a hat-trick.
Espanyol,
of course, are often accused of fighting for their lives against city
rivals Barcelona but lying down versus Madrid - and they did little to
help that reputation as they went three goals behind within 16 minutes.
Karim
Benzema gave Madrid the lead (the seventh time this term he has hit the
first goal) with a header and Ronaldo added the second from the spot
before James Rodriguez made it 3-0 with a deflected effort and Cristiano
completed a fantastic first-half performance for Real with a superb
strike as he dribbled past three defenders and curled an exquisite shot
into the right-hand corner of the net.
it was his finest finish in many months and the first time he has dribbled
past rival players to score in a long time - perhaps since his strike
against Schalke in the Champions League en route to La Decima in
2013-14.
The Portuguese had got off to something of a slow start under Zinedine Zidane, scoring just twice in the Frenchman's first three games and disappointing in the last of those: a 1-1 draw at Betis last weekend.
"Ronaldo
doesn't have to score every game," Zidane said after this match. "When
he doesn't score three, we think something is wrong. He has tremendous
ambition and today, aside from the goals, he did a great job
defensively."
And Ronaldo said in the mixed zone: "I'm very happy with the goals, but above all for the team. The goals come naturally