Real Madrid ease past Deportivo in opener
Gradel, making his first appearance for Toulouse on loan from Bournemouth, volleyed the away side in front in the 18th minute but Neymar had already seen a shot strike the top of the bar before that.
The Brazilian then saw a header tipped onto the post by Alban Lafont before he equalised just after the half-hour, setting up Rabiot for a shot that was pushed out by the away goalkeeper before following in to convert the loose ball.
The same duo combined as PSG went in front, Rabiot playing a one-two with Neymar before beating Lafont with a low strike into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
‘CLASS’ The second half was quieter before coming to life after Verratti was harshly shown a second yellow for catching Christopher Jullien in the Toulouse area in the 69th minute.
Soon after, the referee gave a harsh decision the other way, awarding a
Cavani scored from the spot, the goal his 11th in his last 11 Ligue 1 games, but Toulouse quickly pulled another one back when the giant Jullien headed in from a corner with 12 minutes left to make it 3-2.
Yet there was to be no grandstand finish from the visitors, as instead substitute Pastore — the man who has lost his place to accommodate Neymar — curled in a superb fourth.
Neymar’s corner was headed in by Kurzawa. But Neymar had to have the last word and somehow engineered himself space in the area in stoppage time before finishing to make it 6-2 and bring the Parc des Princes crowd to its feet.
“If I forget the fact I am the Toulouse coach, it is good for football to see that kind of class,” said opposition boss Pascal Dupraz.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Marcelo Bielsa suffered a second straight loss as Lille coach in a disappointing 2-0 home defeat against Caen, while Marseille were frustrated by Angers in a 1-1 draw at the Velodrome.
Radamel Falcao struck his fifth goal in three games on Friday to give Monaco a 1-0 win at Metz, while Saint-Etienne beat newcomers Amiens 3-0 on Saturday. MADRID: Real Madrid’s winning streak shows no signs of abating as the European champions began their defence of La Liga with a comfortable 3-0 win at Deportivo la Coruna.
Gareth Bale, Casemiro and Toni Kroos were on target for the visitors, but Madrid’s night at La Riazor ended on a sour note when captain Sergio Ramos was shown the 23rd red card of his Real career.
“Clearly I am not happy with what happened with Sergio,” said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.
“I don’t like seeing my players get sentoff, but we can’t change it now.” Ramos could have been dismissed earlier in the secondhalf when he only received a yellow card for a slap on Deportivo defender Fabian Schar.
However, he tied a record for 18 red cards in La Liga with a second booking for an elbow on Borja Valle in the dying embers of the match.
“In general we can be happy with our performance,” added Zidane.
“It isn’t an easy place to come and they had chances to score.”
Deportivo were left to rue two big opportunities missed by Florin Andone in the first 10 minutes, whilst the Romanian international also saw a late penalty saved by Keylor Navas.
Zidane made four changes from the side that completed a 5-1 aggregate hammering of Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday.
Victory in midweek sealed a fourth trophy for Zidane’s men in as many months after lifting La Liga, the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup. However, far from their invincible form of late, Real were lucky to escape unpunished from a slow start.
Navas flew to his left to turn Andone’s first effort from a narrow angle to safety, but should have been beaten when the forward fired straight at the Costa Rican when clean through moments later.
There was no way back for Deportivo once Madrid took the lead on 20 minutes as Bale pounced on Karim Benzema’s scuffed shot to fire into an unguarded net for his first goal of the season.
A wonderfully worked team goal followed six minutes later as Real moved the ball all over the pitch before Marcelo’s low cross.