MADRID: A Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick helped Real Madrid get their Primera Liga campaign off to a perfect start with a commanding 6-0 victory over Real Zaragoza on Sunday as they look to claw the league title back from Barcelona.
Real coach Jose Mourinho warned that the opening weekend of fixtures often spring surprises but the game went according to plan for the Portuguese and it will serve as a statement of intent for Barca who are in action Monday away to Villarreal.
Ronaldo was the joint highest goal scorer in Spain last season with Lionel Messi on 53 goals and mid-way through the first half he opened up his league account for this campaign after converting a Mesut Ozil pass. Marcelo quickly added a second as Real peppered the Zaragoza goal. The home side were never in the contest and in the second half Real’s domination was reflected in the scoring with Xabi Alonso (63) and Kaka (81) finding the back of the net along with two more goals from Ronaldo after 70 and 86 minutes.
Earlier, an unfamiliar Real Mallorca side scraped a 1-0 win over Espanyol thanks to a deflected Jonathan De Guzman goal.
There were five new faces in the Mallorca starting line-up and it was one of those, Alejandro Alfaro, who had the side’s best chance of the first half in the opening minute.
Espanyol grew as the game went on and after the break youngster Alvaro Vazquez hit the post and saw another effort well saved.
The visitor’s lack of strength in attack proved crucial as a messy goal from De Guzman, which hit a defender and wrong-footed the goalkeeper, decided the encounter.
“We won it through a bit of luck,” admitted Mallorca coach Michael Laudrup. (Agencies)