Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale were rampant as Real Madrid hammered Sevilla 7-3 at the Bernabeu. |
Gareth Bale was able to put some of the doubts over his early season form behind him as he scored twice and set up two more in Real Madrid's chaotic and wildly entertaining 7-3 win over Sevilla on Wednesday night.
Bale had been questioned in the press following his side's 2-1 defeat to FC Barcelona on Saturday night, but was in the starting 11 as Real Madrid entertained a Sevilla side that had not won away in their last 21 league games and which clearly began with few hopes of taking anything from the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
The Welshman opened the score after 13 minutes after a flowing team move and his second of the night after 27 minutes had more than a touch off a defender to wrong-foot Sevilla, Beto.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty to put Madrid 3-0 ahead after a foul on Isco and the game looked to be virtually over, however Sevilla pulled a goal back from the penalty spot themselves following a foul by Sergio Ramos allowed Igor Rakitic to continue his scoring run on 38 minutes and Carlos Bacca got the visitors right back into the match a minute later after fine work from Jairo down the Sevilla left.
The game turned chaotic and Sevilla had further chances but following a save from Diego Lopez the play swept to the other end to allow Karim Benzema to make it 4-2 after 52 minutes.
Ronaldo netted his second of the night on the hour following a pass from Bale from the right wing. It looked all over but Rakitic's second gave Sevilla a glimmer of hope before Xabi Alonso returned for action for Madrid with 25 minutes remaining.
Ronaldo got his hat-trick when his deflected shot looped into the back of the net 20 minutes from time and although Sevilla could have pulled one back from the third penalty of the night, Rakitic blazed over the bar, before Benzema headed his second of the night home from close range.
Incredible this is the first time in the 74 year history of La Liga that Real Madrid have had two penalties given against them, while Sevilla coach Unai Emery had never led a side that had conceded more than 6 goals in a game.
Osasuna climbed out of the bottom three with a 3-1 win against Rayo Vallecano. The game quickly swung the way of the side from Navarra when Oier Sanjurjo scored in the first minute and Oriel Riera made it 2-0 12 minutes later.
Roberto Torres secured the win 13 minutes into the second half and although they were reduced to 10 men shortly afterwards when Miguel de las Cuevas was sent off, Alejando Galvez's goal for Rayo never put the final result in doubt.
Almeria produced the surprise of the day when they came back from a goal down to win 2-1 away to Valencia, who have now lost their last three matches.
Things looked to be on course for Valencia when Jonas Goncalves put them ahead from the penalty spot after 33 minutes, but central defender Marco Toreglieri equalized following a corner kick and Aliex Vidal scored the decisive goal 10 minutes later.
The result has probably saved Almeria coach Francisco Rodriguez's job, while transferring the pressure to Valencia boss, Miroslav Djukic.
Claudio Bravo was one of two Real Sociedad heroes as his last minute penalty save stopped his side from seeing a 2-0 lead overturned in Valladolid.
Antoine Griezmann had scored twice to put the Basque side ahead, but two goals in three minutes from Daniel Larsson and Javi Guerra (76 and 78 minutes) leveled the score.
Valladolid looked to be on the verge of a memorable comeback in the last minute when they were given a penalty, but Bravo guessed the intention of Patrick Ebert to save a point for his side.
The round of matches kicked off on Monday with Barcelona winning 3-0 in Vigo, while Espanyol and Malaga drew 0-0.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)