Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to hit 30 La Liga goals in six consecutive seasons as he inspired Real Madrid to a 4-0 thrashing of Eibar on Saturday. Elsewhere, Fernando Torres was on target again as Atletico Madrid triumphed 3-1 at Espanyol. Ronaldo netted in the 19th minute and also provided passes for Lucas Vazquez and Jese to score as the hosts stormed into a 4-0 halftime lead. James Rodriguez had opened Real's account with a curling free kick in the fifth minute.
Real are third in the league on 72 points, one behind Atletico and four adrift of Barcelona who play Real Sociedad later on Saturday. Coach Zinedine Zidane made eight changes to the team that suffered a shock 2-0 defeat at VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League in midweek with only Ronaldo, Pepe and Casemiro keeping their places. Brazilian right back Danilo was booed by the home fans for his disappointing display at Wolfsburg when he came on in the second half but it was an otherwise positive afternoon for Real who host Wolfsburg in their quarter-final second leg on Tuesday.
Rodriguez was criticised for being caught laughing on the sidelines in Germany in midweek but the Colombia international lifted the crowd by scoring early on, his first goal in just under two months. A fine piece of skill from Ronaldo allowed Vazquez to pass the ball into an empty net in the 18th minute before the record-breaker finished off a cut-back from the lively Jese a minute later. Ronaldo returned the favour for the 23-year-old in the 39th minute as Real made it 4-0.
Eibar's top scorer Borja Baston hit the crossbar in a rare attack for the visitors who are 10th in the table. Torres bounced back from his sending-off in the midweek Champions League defeat to Barca by scoring his third goal in as many games, cancelling out Papa Diop's opener in the 29th minute for Espanyol. France international Antoine Griezmann grabbed his 20th league goal of the season to put the visitors ahead on 58 minutes and midfielder Koke sealed the points for Diego Simeone's side with a close-range finish in the 89th. Simeone made one change from the team that lost 2-1 at the Nou Camp, replacing Saul Niguez with Augusto Fernandez.
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