Any lingering thoughts that Real Madrid were in crisis were resolutely ended on Saturday afternoon when Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Carlo Ancelotti’s side to an 8-2 victory at Deportivo de La Coruna.
Ronaldo helped himself to a hat-trick as Madrid destroyed their rivals with aplomb. He was joined on the score-sheet by James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, and Javier Hernandez, with the latter two even helping themselves to a double.
It didn’t look good for La Courna at the break when they went in already 3-0 down, as Ronaldo was able to pick up a brace either side of James Rodriguez’s stunning strike. Deportivo then showed signs of a comeback as they scored a penalty six minutes into the second half thanks to Haris Medunjanin’s finish, but then the Welsh-wizard, Gareth Bale, turned it on and scored twice to give Madrid an unassailable lead.
Ronaldo then completed his hat-trick to help prove that, even though he has been constantly linked with a a transfer away from the Bernabeu at some point in the near future, he is still one of the best forwards in the world. The scoring wasn’t close to concluding though, as Jose Verdu Toche was able to notch another goal for Deportivo before Hernandez, who arrived from Manchester United on loan in September, scored his first goal for the club and then quickly notched another for good measure too.
Real Madrid’s form going into this tricky away fixture had been patchy to say the least. Ancelotti had watched from the sideline as they lost their previous two La Liga matches 4-2 to Real Sociedad and then 2-1 to their bitter rivals and champions Atletico Madrid. However, faith in the Italian coach was restored in the middle of week when the European Champions began the defense of their trophy with the catastrophic destruction of Swiss side Basel by five goals to one in the Champions League.
Despite this impressive performance, Ancelotti has already declared that he wants to see more from his team. The former Paris-St-Germain manager declared that his players “have to improve” before adding, “We showed the quality everyone knows we have which is the capability to score in many different ways. But we need to continue improving the balance and our consistency.”
He then went on to note , “We have players with great quality and showed the quality we have, but we have a phenomenon in Ronaldo . After two defeats we have scored 13 goals and that is a good sign that we have responded well.”
[Image via Football365]