A roundup of Sunday’s action in Spain and Italy’s top flights…
[ FOLLOW: All of PST’s La Liga coverage ]
Real Madrid 7-1 Deportivo La Coruna
Now, this is more like it from the defending European champions. Zinedine Zidane’s side went behind on Sunday when Adrian put the visitors in front, however, Real Madrid woke up and scored seven unanswered goals at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Gareth Bale was the star on the day with a brilliant curler that kicked off the first of his two goals (below). After Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to go down inside the penalty area, Bale carried on and put the ball onto his left foot before sliding his shot in off the inside of the far post.
GOOOOOOOLLLLLL-AZO-AZO-AZO!!!!
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) January 21, 2018
@GarethBale11, ignoring @Cristiano's penalty appeals, curls a postage stamp finish beyond Ruben Martinez's reach. 2-1! pic.twitter.com/fotNEVYlw8
Meanwhile, Ronaldo picked up a brace of his own on the day, both of which came off of headers for the Portuguese international. The veteran goalscorer also got bloodied on the day, but that didn’t stop him from adding to his impressive goal total.
GOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!@Cristiano is on the scoresheet, but you wouldn't know it judging by his facial expression! 😑 pic.twitter.com/W4UBLlZ6Vj
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) January 21, 2018
Real Betis 0-5 Barcelona
A slow start to the match was aided by a Barcelona team that came out for blood in the second stanza. Ivan Rakitic and braces from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi paced the road side in the second half, keeping their unbeaten La Liga record in tacked.
Although Rakitic was the first to find his name on the scoresheet, it was his assist to Suarez that later on that proved to be a thing of excellence from both parties.
GOOOOOOOAAAAL!! @LuisSuarez9 joins the scoring party as he does some gymnastics to score. #BarcaBetis pic.twitter.com/SjQsYpEFfQ
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) January 21, 2018
The first half was mildly uneventful for the Blaugrana, however, the Catalonians suffered another injury blow as Thomas Vermaelen left the match after pulling up in the first half with what appeared to be a hamstring pull.
Elsewhere in La Liga
Alaves 2-2 Leganes
Real Sociedad 1-2 Celta Vigo
Lazio 5-1 Chievo Verona
Lazio moved into third place in Serie A after a convincing victory at the Stadio Olimpico. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s double for the hosts helped propel them to the win, after Luis Alberto kicked off the scoring in the 23rd minute.
Chievo found a brief response two minutes later, but from there it was all Lazio as they closed to within 11 points of league leaders Napoli.
Cagliari 1-2 AC Milan
Franck Kessié scored twice in six minutes to pull Milan back into the match on the day, and that was exactly what they needed to secure three points at the Sardegna Arena. AC Milan sits seventh in Italy’s top flight through 21 matches, 23 points behind Napoli.
Elsewhere in Serie A
Inter Milan 1-1 Roma
Udinese 1-1 SPAL
Sassuolo 1-1 Torino
Sampdoria 3-1 Fiorentina
Bologna 3-0 Benevento
Hellas Verona 0-3 Crotone
Atalanta 0-1 Napoli