Oct 31, 2013
Ronaldo and Bale among the goals as Real Madrid win 10-goal thriller
Cristiano Ronaldo provided the perfect riposte to FIFA president Sepp Blatter after scoring a hat-trick as Real Madrid beat Sevilla 7-3 on a night when Gareth Bale grabbed his first goals at the Bernabeu.
Days after Blatter had made a bizarre impersonation of the Portuguese while saying the star spent "a lot of money at the hairdressers", the 28-year-old scored his third career hat-trick against Sevilla to go top of the scoring charts in Spain with 11 goals.
He celebrated his first goal from the penalty spot with a military salute in a mocking response to Blatter's description of him as a "commander" last week.
Read: Ronaldo reacts to Blatter jibes
The absorbing victory also allowed Real to put Saturday's defeat by Barcelona behind them, not just because of the three points but also because Bale, the most expensive footballer in history, began to repay some of his fee.
Making his first start as a home player at the legendary Bernabeu, the Welshman scored twice, made another two and also managed to complete his first 90 minutes in his seventh appearance for Madrid.
Despite Bale's largely anonymous display at Camp Nou, which was blamed on a lack of match practice, Real coach Carlo Ancelotti was wholly vindicated by his decision to keep faith in the 24-year-old, who curled home a fine opener before a free-kick was deflected in as he handed Real a 2-0 lead.
On a satisfying night for the hosts, for whom substitute Xabi Alonso made his first appearance of the season after injury, Karim Benzema also grabbed a brace as Real moved up to third in the table, six points behind Barca.
Sevilla were reduced to 10 men late on when Stephane Mbia received his second yellow card.
In Italy, both Napoli and Juventus closed the gap on Roma to just two points, but the league leaders can extend their lead -- and register a perfect 10 victories from their opening 10 league games -- when hosting bottom side Chievo on Thursday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment