Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick as Real Madrid topped city rivals Atletico Madrid 3-0 on Saturday night at the Estadio Vicente Calderon.
Ronaldo scored via a deflected free kick in the 29th minute before tallying in the 71st and 77th minutes to lead Los Blancos to their first league win at the Calderon since the 2012-13 season. It also snaps a six-match winless skid versus Los Colchoneros in La Liga.
For Real it was arguably their best performance of the season to date. Real manager Zinedine Zidane's men were the more dangerous side in the first half and were richly rewarded with a goal. After withstanding an Atletico charge to start the second half, Real then put the match on ice in a six-minute span in the second half. The victory also extends Real's lead atop the La Liga table as they now sit four points in front of second place Barcelona.
There was notable news in the starting XI of each team. It was still too early for Sergio Ramos to come back from injury so Zidane forged ahead with a centre-back pairing of Nacho and Raphael Varane. Up front Karim Benzema started on the bench paving the way for Lucas Vazquez to start in attack. As for Atletico, manager Diego Simeone opted for Fernando Torres in attack, but otherwise it was the usual cast of characters in the Colchoneros' lineup.
To no one's surprise, there was a charged atmosphere at the Calderon and it was reflected in the teams' play. The back and forth resulted in chances for both teams: Saul was unable to find the target after a fine pass from Koke, while a Ronaldo header looked bound for goal only for Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak to make a diving stop.
Ronaldo would get a second crack at it though in the 23rd minute and it led to the opening goal for Los Blancos. Stefan Savic brought down Lucas Vazquez, which set up a free kick for Ronaldo, whose low-driving effort deflected off the leg of Savic in the Atletico wall and spun past Oblak to give Real the 1-0 lead.
Atletico came out with a purpose to start the second half and twice threatened the Real goal in the first six minutes. But Real held firm and by the hour mark the Atletico momentum had dissipated.
Simeone was first to make a move with a double switch as Gabi and Torres made way for Angel Correa and Kevin Gameiro, respectively. However, Ronaldo continued to be a thorn in the side of the Atletico defense and took advantage of an error from Savic to
earn a penalty 20 minutes from time. A 50-50 challenge between Ronaldo and Savic saw the Montenegro international leave his leg up too long as he fell to ground and it brought Ronaldo down in the area. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and the Portuguese coolly converted the penalty to double Real's lead 2-0.
The fun was only just starting for Real and just inside a quarter hour left to play Ronaldo would finish off Atletico with his third goal of the night. A Real break ended with Gareth Bale streaking down the left and then sending in a pinpoint cross for Ronaldo, which he easily pushed into net to make it a 3-0 lead and sent the Calderon faithful to the exits.
From there, the final minutes were a mere formality as Real denied Atletico a consolation goal and sent a message not to just their crosstown rivals but the entire league that they will be the team to beat for the rest of the 2016-17 season.
Real return to action on Tuesday in the Champions League versus Sporting Lisbon.
