MADRID: Despite watching Cristiano Ronaldo go off covered in blood, Real Madrid fans got to celebrate at home again with the team’s biggest win of the season in the Spanish league.

Ronaldo, who left the game late with a cut to his face, scored twice as Real routed Deportivo La Coruna 7-1 Sunday, ending a three-match winless streak at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and easing the pressure on coach Zinedine Zidane and his players.

“The players needed a game like this, a victory with a lot of goals,” Zidane said. “It’s always good to score seven times at home. It’s not something that happens very often so we are happy about it. We have to keep this momentum going.”

Gareth Bale and Nacho Fernandez also scored twice, and Luka Modric added another goal for Real as they regained fourth place in the standings.

Real remain 19 points behind leaders Barcelona, who later routed Real Betis 5-0 in Seville with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez each scoring a pair of goals.

At the start of the league’s second half, Barcelona are 11 points in front of second-placed Atletico Madrid and 14 points ahead of Valencia.

Real are five points behind Valencia but have a game in hand.

Ronaldo had to leave with about five minutes remaining after being hit by defender Fabian Schar’s boot while scoring the team’s sixth goal with a header. He was attended on the field for a while and could not continue as blood spilled over his face.

While walking off the field, with his face still stained by the blood, Ronaldo asked for the doctor’s cell phone to take a look at the injury.

Zidane said the Portugal forward needed “two or three stitches but was fine.”

Real had already made three substitutions, but the much-needed victory was already secured by then.

The fans who had loudly jeered the team in recent matches were cheering on their feet after the final whistle at the Bernabeu. The easy win followed a series of poor results that all but ended Real’s title chances.

“We played a perfect match,” Madrid midfielder Casemiro said. Deportivo, in the relegation zone and winless in five games, gave Real an early scare when Adrian Lopez opened the scoring midway through the first half.

Nacho and Bale helped Real rally before halftime, and each scored again in the second half along with Modric. Bale’s first goal came from a neat left-footed shot that was curled into the top corner by the far post.

Ronaldo, who hadn’t found the net in three games and had been among those criticised by fans, scored with a shot from close range just a few minutes before getting injured. He did not celebrate.

Real’s neighbours Atletico lost ground after a 1-1 home draw against Girona on Saturday, while Valencia lost 2-1 at Las Palmas. Atletico losing points meant more comfort for Barca on the top of the table.

After a goalless first period for the Catalan side, Ivan Rakitic opened the scoring on 59 minutes, converting a sublime pass from Suarez. Messi thumped home the second from outside the box on 64 minutes before he and Rakitic teamed up to present Suarez with a volley on 69 minutes to effectively seal the three points.

Betis were making mistakes at the back and when Zouhair Feddal clumsily gave the ball away on halfway to Suarez, the Uruguayan sent Messi scampering away.

Faced with two defenders, Messi dummied to shoot, drifted past both and calmly slotted home past goalkeeper Antonio Adan. There was still time for Suarez to complete his brace with a crisp finish after Messi had driven at the heart of an over-matched defence.

Earlier, Joseba Zaldua scored a last-minute equaliser as Leganes came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Alaves, who had Rodrigo Ely sent off three minutes from time after Munir El Haddadi and Alfonso Pedraza had put the hosts 2-0 up.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2018