Agence France-Presse
Madrid, March 21: If MSN (Messi, Suarez, Neymar) are in deadly form can BBC (Benzema, Bale, Cristiano) be far behind? No they can’t. The trio of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo came to the party as Real Madrid won 4-0 at Sevilla, Sunday. The win helped them close the gap with Barcelona to 10 points as the Catalan giants were held to a 2-2 draw at Villarreal in an earlier game on the day.
Real boss Zinedine Zidane had pleaded with Benzema to concentrate on his football after becoming embroiled in a spat with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls over whether his off-field troubles should prevent him representing the country at this summer’s European Championships. And Benzema responded with a thumping volley into the top corner from Bale’s cross after just six minutes.
Sevilla had the chance to level from the penalty spot, but Keylor Navas flew to his right to deny Kevin Gameiro midway through the first half. Ronaldo also missed from the spot for the third time this season when he blazed over early in the second period.
Yet, it mattered little with two goals in two minutes just after the hour mark with Ronaldo and Bale slotting home from close range. Jese Rodriguez then pounced on some sloppy Sevilla defending to round off the scoring four minutes from time.
Ivan Rakitic and a controversial Neymar penalty had Barca on course for a 13th consecutive La Liga win before half time.
Yet, Villarreal were more than worthy of a point and got their reward after the break through Cedric Bakambu and Jeremy Mathieu’s own goal.