Real smell La Liga title

MADRID. — Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez scored twice as a muchchanged Real Madrid moved to within three victories of winning the Spanish La Liga soccer title with a 4-0 demolition of Tony Adams’s already-relegated Granada on Saturday.

Earlier, Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were all on target to take their combined tally for the season to 102 as Barcelona kept pace at the top with a 4-1 win over Villarreal.

Barca remain top thanks to their superior head-to-head record with the two locked on 84 points, but Real have three games remaining to the Catalans’ two.

Real coach Zinedine Zidane continued his rotation policy of recent weeks with nine changes from the side that beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final last Tuesday as hat-trick hero Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of the squad entirely. However, it mattered little as Real maintained their perfect La Liga record in nine games without Ronaldo this season.

“For a coach it is the best possible news,” said Zidane.

“It means that everyone is involved, in good physical condition, every time they get a chance to play they do well. I can only be satisfied with that.”

Barely two minutes had gone when Lucas Vazquez got in behind the Granada defence and squared for Rodriguez to tap home the opener. — AFP