Real Madrid once again (sort of) made history in La Liga today, by defeating Deportivo La Coruna at the Razior, with an unbelievable score of 8 to 2. Before today, Deportivo’s largest number of goals conceded at their home stadium came from a 7 to 0 defeat to Barcelona in 1998. The powerhouse that is Madrid was able break that record with a Cristiano Ronaldo hat trick, a Gareth Bale brace, a brace by Javier Hernandez, and a well placed shot by James Rodriguez.
The first half began with neither team able to gain any ground. Deportivo knew that they had to stop the midfield from moving forward and they were able to do just that for the first 20 minutes of the match. In fact, it was former Barcelona winger, Isaac Cuenca who had the first chance of the match after cutting in from his wing but he was unable to place the ball and took a shot that was too wide to make Iker Casillas uncomfortable.
The next chance came from a cross by Gareth Bale that Cristiano Ronaldo was able to header but only into the hands of Deportivo’s German Lux and after that, Bale was unable to find the back of the net after a Karim Benzema shot that was deflected by Lux. It wasn’t until minute 29 that we saw Madrid’s confidence come back when Arbeloa drove the ball forward and put in a cross that Cristiano Ronaldo met with class and placed in the upper left corner.
After that, the match was mostly one sided. In the 36th minute, James Rodriguez took a left footed chance from outside the box that found the upper right corner of the goal. In the 41st, some confusion occured when Benzema broke away in a Madrid counter attack and was fouled by Lux at about 35 yards from the Deportivo goal. The defenders stopped playing, expecting a foul and a booking for their keeper, but the ref decided to allow the advantage rule since the ball found it’s way to Ronaldo. Cristiano then put himself on the scoreboard once more by taking the shot from outside with his left foot.
In the second half, the goals started pouring. The first goal of the second half came from an unjustified penalty during minute 51. The ref hesitated but called a hand ball against Real Madrid when a ball hit Sergio Ramos on the torso. Haris Medunjanin placed the penalty to the bottom of Casillas’ right side post, while Casillas himself dove to the left. The score was 3 to 1 but Madrid continued to dominate and in the 66th minute, Bale met a through ball by Marcelo near the left side of Lux’s six yard box, and placed it on the ground, crossing past Lux and hitting the bottom of the right post before going in.
8 minutes later, in an almost identical play, Isco, who came on for Luka Modric in the 71st, put in another through ball for Bale which he once again met near the left side of Lux’s six yard box, and once again placed to the right side of the goal, only this time in the air. Ronaldo scored his third and final goal of the day in the 78th when James Rodriguez stole the ball from Mobido Diakite in the right side of the 18 yard box and swung the play over to Ronaldo on the left side who took a shot with his left foot and into the goal. The Madrid defense did not have much to worry about but at minute 84, Isaac Cuenca was able to cross the ball and find Jose Toche right by the penalty spot. Toche headered the ball next to the left post and Casillas was unable to save it, making the score 6 to 2 with only 6 minutes of regular time to play.
Next, we saw why Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is known by many as a “super sub”. Hernandez came on to the field in minute 77, making his third appearance for Real Madrid. In the 88th minute, during another Madrid counter attack, Isco lobbed a pass forward to Chicharito who received the bouncing pass just at the edge of the left side of the 18 yard box and allowed the ball to bounce once more before volleying the ball with a powerful left footed shot. The ball found its way into the upper left hand corner of the goal for Madrid’s 7th goal of the match. Finally the last goal of the match came in stoppage time in the 91st minute. Marcelo took the ball forward on the left wing and gave a pass to Hernandez who attempted a shot from outside the box. The ball deflected off of Luisinho and into the net.
Hernandez has now netted twice in three games for Madrid. It is still a little early to tell if Hernandez is a good fit for Madrid but it is a good start for the Mexican striker, who now has two goals in 48 minutes played. James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos both did a spectacular job in the midfield. James netted one and Kroos was able to dominate the central midfield. It seems that Real Madrid is finally in form. The team looked like the efficient machine we’ve seen in past seasons and the summer signings have been pulling their weight. If this continues, Madrid will have a great chance of becoming La Liga champions.
Photo credit: David Ramos/Getty Images