Ronaldo celebrates as record Real cruise

CRISTIANO Ronaldo paraded his fourth Ballon d’Or (pictured, AFP) and powered home his first goal of 2017 as Real Madrid equalled Barcelona’s Spa ni s h re c o rd 3 9 - g a me unbeaten run with a 5-0 demolition of lowly Granada on Saturday.

Sevilla leapfrogged Barca into second, four points behind Real, thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder’s hat-trick in a hugely impressive 4-0 win at sixthplaced Real Sociedad, while Atletico Madrid won 2-0 at Eibar to move up to fourth.

At the Bernabeu, Ronaldo was honoured by previous Ballon d’Or winners to have played for Madrid including Luis Figo, Ronaldo, Michael Owen and his coach Zinedine Zidane before kick-off.

And Real’s relentless run, which stretches back to April last year, continued once the action got underway as they scored four times in the opening half-hour.

Isco and Karim Benzema slotted home from close range before Ronaldo, who had been rested for Real’s 3-0 Copa del Rey win over Sevilla in midweek, bulleted home a header from Marcelo’s cross.

Another simple finish from Isco made it four goals before the break, and Casemiro turned home James Rodriguez’s free-kick for the fifth after half-time.

Rapid start

“There is no limit, but on the other hand we have to do everything possible to make sure that it lasts,” Zidane said of the stunning form of his side.

The Frenchman made four changes from the side that saw off Sevilla with ease in midweek with Keylor Navas returning in goal and all of Ronaldo, Benzema andnd Isco coming in up front. ont.

Once againn Zidane was vindicated ated as al l three of the frontline scoredored in a rapid start.

Real captain ain for the day Marcelo o marked the tenth annivernniversary of his debut with a pininpoint cross ss from whichh R o n a l d o p o w e r e d h o me h i s 17th goal of the season.

“The matchesches are prepared in a certain way depending on whether we have two, three or four days, but the idea is always to do our best, be physically read ready and concentrated,” Zidane a added. “If we are ready and co concentrated then we can do great things.” Madrid understan understandably eased off in the second half, but the European c champions did net a fifth just before the hour mark when Casemiro was left unm unmarked to bundle home substitute Rodriguez’s freekick a at the back po post. Rona Ronaldo is expecte expected to p i c k u p another individual trophy in FIFA’s inaugural The Best award for 2016 today, but one of his rivals for the prize ended a three-month goal drought in La Liga as Antoine Griezmann sealed Atletico’s 2-0 win at Eibar.

After a first-half short on goal mouth action, Saul Niguez nodded Atletico in front eight minutes after the break.

Griezmann hadn’t netted in 821 La Liga minutes since October 2, but bundled home from close range after a onetwo with Kevin Gameiro 16 minutes from time.

However, it is Sevilla who are Real’s closest challengers as they bounced back in style from a midweek mauling to inflict Sociedad’s first home defeat since the opening day of the season.