Seville (Spain): Real Madrid bounced back from a four-game winless streak in emphatic fashion by hammering Real Betis 6-1 away from home to go second in La Liga, Saturday.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid retained the top spot by thrashing bottom side Granada 7-1. Sevilla left it late to win 3-2 at Leganes to stay third, claiming their first away win since May 2015.
Real travelled to Betis without key midfielders Luka Modric and Casemiro and captain Sergio Ramos through injury and without a win in four games in all competitions.
Raphael Varane swiftly eased the pressure on under-fire coach Zinedine Zidane by heading home Toni Kroos’s floated free kick in the fourth minute.
Karim Benzema rolled home another pass by Kroos in the 31st to put Real further at ease and they went into the halftime break four goals up after a strike from returning fullback Marcelo and a brilliant breakaway finished off by Isco.
The Spain international curled in a brilliant strike in the 62nd and talisman Cristiano Ronaldo fittingly rounded off a statement of intent from the European champions by powering home in the 78th. Alvaro Cejudo had scored Betis’s consolation goal in the 55th minute.
Former Barcelona forward Isaac Cuenca gave winless Granada a shock lead in the 18th minute with an impressive strike but Yannick Carrasco pulled Atletico in front with goals in the 34th and 45th, completing his treble in the 61st.
Nicolas Gaitan scored his first goal for Atletico two minutes after coming off the bench, netting with his first touch, and struck again in the 81st, while late strikes from Angel Correa and midfielder Tiago completed the rout.
Earlier, Saturday, a late wonder strike from Pablo Sarabia ended Sevilla’s 17-month wait for an away league win. Franco Vazquez and Samir Nasri put Sevilla in charge but quick-fire strikes from David Timor and Alexander Szymanowski cancelled out their lead, only for Sarabia to smash in from outside the area with five minutes left.
Reuters
