La Liga Round 17: Cristiano Ronaldo Hattrick Helps Real Madrid Ease Past Villarreal

Real Madrid have made their dominance pay off with two quickfire goals that have killed this match off as a contest. Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed his third of the night with a neat turn and shot inside the box, while Kaká has marked his return to the Bernabeu with a well-taken goal from close range following a searing run down the left from Cristiano.

It was harsh on Villarreal, who absolutely dominated the first half, but what we have seen is the difference between the Real Madrids and Barcelonas of this world, and the rest. That difference is quite simply a ruthlessness infront of goal, and a knack of winning matches even when not playing well. The players Real Madrid have at their disposal means they can play badly and still knock three or four past La Ligas third place team. Mourinhos men didn’t play badly, especially in a rousing second half, but they still managed to go into the break 2-2 after a first half in which they created very little.

Real Madrid are a different team so far in this second half. If it was Villarreal that held the initiative in the first half, Real Madrid are now very much in the ascendency. The home side look like scoring with every attack and Villarreal are really struggling to get out of their half. Quite a contrast with what we saw in the first 45 minutes, but whatever Jose Mourinho said to his team at half-time seems to have worked!

Diego Lopez is keeping his side in the match with saves from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, as Real Madrid look to get the goal that could be enough to see them move to within two points of Barcelona. There are twenty minutes remaining in this one and it looks like it will be a long twnety minutes for the Yellow Submarine. They need to get the ball to their midfield cause right now they’re not getting a look in.

Cristiano is just a goal-scoring machine isn’t he? The guy just cannot stop putting the ball in the net and he’s done it again to draw Real Madrid level on the stroke of half-time. Madrid won a free-kick on the right hand side and Xabi Alonso whipped in a lovely free-kick which Cristiano met with a bullet header that flew past Diego Lopez.

A thoroughly entertaining match that has flowed from end to end, with Villarreal by far the more dangerous of the two sides. You just have to wonder how many goals they would have scored today, and indeed where they would be in La Liga, if they had shown the ruthlessness that Cristiano has shown so far tonight. Their midfield is a joy to behold, with players like Valero, Cani and Cazorla proving they can more than mix it with the best of them.

I tell you what, Real Madrid are really struggling here. Villarreal have been nothing short of scintillating in this first half, and they have gone ahead agin through Marcos Ruben. The little striker ran onto a fantastic through ball from the majestic Borja Valero, and chipped a delightful shot over Casillas and into the net. Stunning goal.

And Villarreal are not sitting on their lead. The electric Santi Cazorla is creating panic in the Madrid defence with every attack, and with Rossi, Marcos Ruben, Cani and Borja Valero all enjoying plenty of possession, Real Madrid are all over the place. Mourinho really needs to find a way of getting Xabi Alonso on the ball more, and of course he needs more from Karim Benzema who has retreated back into his shell after that assist.

What an opening to this match. Both sides taking the game to their opponents in what has been an electric first 15 minutes. Villarreal almost took the lead through Santi Cazorla as early as the 1st minute, but Sergio Ramos did brilliantly to clear his shot off the line with Casillas beaten.

But it didn’t take long for Villarreal to open the scoring, with Cani making the most of some excellent work from Cazorla and Rossi to lift the ball beautifully over Iker Casillas who had raced off his line to meet the winger. But the lead lasted no more than two minutes when Cristiano Ronaldo equalised after 8 minutes. Excellent work from Karim Benzema saw the ball squared across the area, and as always the Portuguese star was in the right place at the right time to tap in.