Sevilla's resurgence under Unai Emery took a slight detour thanks to a 4-0 smashing at the hands of Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo sharpened his figurative claws ahead of a Champions League meeting against his old club with a hat trick. Gonzalo Higuaín scored a goal and saw red after picking up two yellow cards.
Real Madrid vs. Sevilla FC: Final score 4-1, Easy win for Los Blancos
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick as Real Madrid recovered from their less than impressive performance last week with a comprehensive victory over Sevilla
Jasper Juinen
Real Madrid's opening goal in the 18th minute was a bit goofy, sort of ugly, but it definitely counts. Cristiano Ronaldo made a low cross from the left side that was intercepted by a sliding Fernando Navarro, unfortunately the defender the ball bounced up, hit off his chest (or thereabouts) and fell right to Gonzalo Higuaín who'd overrun Navarro and was standing right on the goal line for an easy tap-in.
As you might expect with Ronaldo, an assist is nice but goals are always better. In the 25th minute, Ronaldo received a short pass from Kaka, made a lightning quick cut towards the center of the pitch that left Hedwiges Maduro in the dust before beating Beto with a blistering shot from 25-yards out.
Where was this Madrid team last week?
Ronaldo added a second goal less than minute into the second half. Álvaro Arbeloa’s long bouncing through ball was collected by Ronaldo at a full run, who settled the ball with one smooth touch before skipping a shot past Beto, giving Madrid a 3-0 lead. Horrible defending by Sevilla who were sliced apart like a hot knife through butter.
At this point a Ronaldo hat trick was inevitable and his third goal came in the 59th minute on a perfectly executed counter attack. Ronaldo started his run off a header from Kaka and began 50+ yard run before passing off to Higuaín on the right. Ronaldo continued his run and Higuaín returned service with a low cross that Ronaldo easily re-directed in to the Sevilla net, making it 4-0.
With the hat trick completed, Jose Mourinho wasted no time replacing his star player and wrapping him in cotton and bubble wrap for Madrid's Champions League match against Manchester United on Tuesday.
Madrid's on-going discipline problem reared its ugly head again in the 66th minute when Higuain executed a needlessly rash tackle on Navarro, earning his second yellow card of the match and an early trip to the showers. The striker will now miss Madrid's next league match against Rayo Vallecano.
Maduro was shown a second yellow in the 80th minute as both sides decided to spend the final 10 minutes or so executing some horrible tackles...for no apparent reason. Sevilla’s Manu scored a consolation goal in the 87th minute but I imagine it won’t help much.
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