Real race clear as Ronaldo treble sinks Atletico

Reuters: Cristiano Ronaldo ensured Atletico Madrid fans will have bitter memories of the last local derby at the Vicente Calderon stadium by scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win for La Liga leaders Real Madrid on Saturday.

Ronaldo’s deflected free kick put Real in charge in the 23rd minute in the first meeting of the teams since the Champions League final in May.

The prolific Portuguese killed off Atletico’s resistance by winning and converting a penalty in the 71st minute and capped a harrowing night for the home side by tapping in the third in the 77th.

It was Real’s first league win over their city rivals since 2013 while Ronaldo’s treble took him to the top of the league’s scoring list on eight goals along with Barcelona pair Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

Real are top of the table with 30 points from 12 matches, four above Barcelona after the champions were held to a goalless draw at home to Malaga who finished the game with nine men.

Atletico are nine points adrift of Real in fifth while Sevilla are third on 24 after beating Deportivo La Coruna 3-2.

The Madrid derby took on extra significance for being the last league meeting of the sides at the Vicente Calderon with Atletico due to move from the 50-year-old ground to a new 67,000 capacity arena next year.

“It’s a very important victory for us at a difficult ground. We played very well from the start and there’s not many teams that can do that at this ground,” said Real coach Zinedine Zidane.  “I’m delighted with Cristiano’s goals and (midfielder) Isco was incredible, he didn’t give the ball away once.” 

Real were without midfield duo Casemiro and Toni Kroos and Zidane decided to rest Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema, who had only just recovered from injury.