Real Madrid put three past Sporting Gijon in the first 12 minutes of their La Liga clash this afternoon as they cruised to a 5-1 victory in Zinedine Zidane’s second game in charge.
Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema all found the net in the opening quarter of an hour, and the latter two scored again before the half-time whistle spared Gijon more pain.
The Welshman, whose hat-trick inspired last weekend’s 5-0 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna, started the rout after seven minutes when he met a Toni Kroos corner at the near post.
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Ballon d’Or runner-up Ronaldo made it two 90 seconds later with a great left-footed finish into the roof of the net, shooting on the turn after Benzema had cleverly lifted the ball into his path.
And Benzema joined his pals on the scoresheet with the best of the opening salvo, acrobatically volleying into the bottom corner after Bale had got to the byline and picked him out.
There was no sign of Los Blancos slowing down as Dani Carvajal crossed for Ronaldo to increase their lead further on 18 minutes with a diving header, but Real eventually took their foot off the gas.
It took them a whopping 23 minutes to add to the scoring again! Isco dinked a ball over the top for Benzema to control and subtly finish past Ivan Cuellar for his fifth goal in three games.
There were hat-tricks for the taking for Ronaldo and Benzema after the restart, but instead Madrid went for a second-half siesta, actually falling asleep somewhat for Gijon’s consolation.
A swift Sporting counter-attack set up Isma Lopez, unmarked at the back post, for this sweet low strike on 61 minutes – about 39 minutes after the match had been finished as a contest.
A second straight win under Zidane sends Real second in the La Liga table – above Barcelona although the champions have two games in hand. Atletico Madrid remain top by a point.
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