Real Madrid’s second straight five-goal performance under new coach Zinedine Zidane came at the high price of losing Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to injury on Sunday, while Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick to lead Barcelona’s 6-0 demolition of 10-man Athletic Bilbao.
As the two powerhouses got goals from their trios of star strikers, Atletico Madrid quietly churned out a 3-0 win at UD Las Palmas to retain their La Liga lead.
Real Madrid crushed Real Sporting de Gijon 5-1 after Bale opened the scoring, followed by braces from Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema.
Photo: AFP
Lionel Messi presented his record fifth Ballon d’Or to his fans before kickoff at the Camp Nou. He then converted a penalty to put Barcelona on their way, before being substituted at halftime because of what coach Luis Enrique called “slight pain,” without giving further details.
Suarez took his league-leading tally to 18 goals, while Neymar and Ivan Rakitic also scored against Bilbao, who had goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz sent off in the fourth minute.
Atletico stayed two points clear of Barcelona, who have a game in hand. Madrid remained four points back in third.
The injuries to Bale and Benzema put a dampener on another dominant showing by Zidane’s team, which followed their 5-0 win against RC Deportivo de La Coruna on his debut, with a first-half blitz that starkly contrasted with Real Madrid’s scoreless draw at Sporting under predecessor Rafael Benitez at the start of the season.
“It’s a fantastic start. It’s not easy to score five goals,” Zidane said. “I know what we are capable of and what we are going to do in the future. This is only the beginning. I expect a lot more from this team.”
Ronaldo said that the team has immediately clicked with Zidane in a way it never did under Benitez.
“The players are more motivated with Zizou,” Ronaldo said. “[He] has given the team a boost. Seriously, there are some coaches that you have more empathy with than others. I never had a bad opinion of Rafa, [but] he sees football in a different way than Zizou. [Zidane] is relaxed, he is friendly with the players.”
Injury concerns aside, Real Madrid’s talented squad made a strong statement that the club might not skip a beat when FIFA’s one-year transfer ban for breaching rules regarding youth players takes effect after the close of this month’s transfer window.
Bale picked up from his three-goal outing in Zidane’s first match in charge with another strong showing, helping to earn a corner that he then headed home from Toni Kroos’ delivery.
Benzema set up Ronaldo to double the lead, before Bale crossed for Benzema to use an acrobatic kick to score the third.
Real Madrid had not scored three goals in the opening 12 minutes of a league match since 1956.
With Sporting reeling, Ronaldo tapped in Dani Carvajal’s cross to make it 4-0 by the 18th minute. Benzema got his brace from Francisco “Isco” Alarcon’s pass in the 41st.
Real Madrid lost Bale a minute before halftime with a right-calf injury, then Benzema went down early in the second half, shortly after Sporting’s Isma Lopez scored, when teammate James Rodriguez kicked his right leg.
Later on Sunday, Barcelona were up a goal and a man after seven minutes when Iraizoz saw a straight red card for bringing down Suarez, allowing Messi to fire the spot-kick past substitute goalkeeper Iago Herrerin.
Bilbao were at Barcelona’s mercy the rest of the game.
Suarez set up Neymar on the break in the 31st minute, before he worked a sublime one-two combination with the Brazilian to score in the 47th.
Neymar dribbled through the defense to provide an assist for Rakitic, before Suarez steered in Arda Turan’s pass in the 68th minute and then headed home a Sergio Busquets cross with eight minutes to play.
In the Canary Islands, Diego Simeone’s Atletico applied the same formula that has the 2013-2014 champions at the front of the title hunt.
Goalkeeper Jan Oblak kept a fourth straight clean sheet — he has only conceded three goals in eight away games this season — while Antoine Griezmann scored a second-half brace from two assists by Jorge “Koke” Resurreccion after Filipe Luis put Atletico ahead.
“I understand the anxiety one can have about the expectations surrounding the team, but we won’t change our mentality of focusing on the next game,” Simeone said.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Valencia coach Gary Neville remained winless in six league games since taking over after a 2-2 draw with Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, while Getafe beat RCD Espanyol 3-1.
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