Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his fifth Ballon d’Or in style by scoring a brace to lead Real Madrid to a 5-0 romp over Sevilla on Saturday afternoon at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.
Prior to kick-off, the Portuguese received the trophy as the best performing player in the world, and then backed it up on the pitch with two first-half goals. Also joining Ronaldo on the scoresheet was Nacho, Toni Kroos and Achraf, with all the Real goals coming in the first 45 minutes.
Billed as a heavyweight battle, this turned out to be as lopsided as it gets. The first knockdown came inside the first three minutes and unlike boxing where you can throw in the towel, Sevilla were instead dragged around the ring for 90 minutes, as they continuously were pummeled by Real’s merciless attack.
Sevilla’s defensive display was shambolic, but on this day Real were firing on all cylinders and few teams on the continent would have been able to have halted Los Blancos.
With Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal and Casemiro all missing through injury and suspension, manager Zinedine Zidane had some line-up shuffling to do. In the end, the French boss opted for an XI that excluded both Isco and Mateo Kovacic, which raised a few eyebrows. Achraf and Vallejo came in for Varane and Ramos in defence, while Benzema went with Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio to join Kroos and Luka Modric in midfield.
Real could not believe their good fortune early on when a lack of communication saw Muriel head back toward his own goal, and Nacho happily took advantage to score from just a few yards out to make it 1-0.
It was the start of a deluge that would last the rest of the half. Midway through, Ronaldo doubled the lead 2-0, as Asensio found him with surgical precision and from there it was a textbook stroke into net for the Portuguese.
Sevilla’s dismal first-half would only get worse. Real were running all over the Andalusians and a one-two combination between Marcelo and Ronaldo ended with a ball striking the hand of Jesus Navas in the Sevilla area. Referee Martinez Munuera pointed to the spot, and Ronaldo squeeze the spot kick under Sergio Rico to make it 3-0.
The visitors’ defence was in tatters. Real were finding all sorts of space in the Sevilla area and they gutted the Andalusians a fourth time, this time on a counter-attack led by Kroos and Lucas Vazquez, which ended with a classic “pass” from the German into the goal for a 4-0 advantage.
Sevilla still had to face more misery, and Achraf added to it when he scored his first career Real goal after collecting a ball from Karim Benzema and finishing from the right to extend the lead to 5-0.
Real took their foot off the accelerator in the second-half, while Sevilla were slightly better, but their attack was still too slow to seriously threaten Keylor Navas in the Real goal.
The only thing missing from Real’s resume on the day was a Benzema goal, and the French striker came achingly close midway through the second stanza when he had a header smack off the post and out.
There would be no goal on the day for Benzema, but that was the only disappointment on the day for Real, who now will travel to Abu Dhabi to begin their Club World Cup campaign, starting with Wednesday’s semi-final.
Match Sheet:
5.- Real Madrid: Keylor; Achraf, Nacho, Vallejo, Marcelo; Kroos (Llorente, min. 64), Modric (Dani Ceballos, min. 71), Lucas, Asensio; Benzema, Cristiano (Isco, min. 76).
0.- Sevilla: Sergio Rico; Mercado, Kjaer, Lenglet, Carole; Pizarro, Banega (Krohn-Dehli, min. 81); Navas, Vazquez (Geis, min. 72), Nolito (Sarabia, min. 57), Muriel.
Goals: 0-1, min. 3: Nacho; 2-0, min. 23: Ronaldo; 3-0, min. 31: Ronaldo; 4-0, min. 38: Kroos; 5-0, min. 42: Achraf.
Referee: Martinez Munuera (Valencian).
Yellow cards: Jesus Navas (Min. 31) for Sevilla, Banega (Min. 37) for Sevilla,
Red cards: None,
Stadium: Santiago Bernabeu,
Attendance: 76.924,
